The Right of Wrong Doings
by xxScarletQuillxx
Summary: Marley Anderson has found herself alone and no place to go. So when she returns to school with a new attitude, how does it happen that she makes personal enemies with her Head of House? Why is it that Severus can't take this annoying girl off his mind?
1. Prologue & Letter from the Author

Dear Readers,

As you can see I have deleted all the chapters I've already posted. I was having a difficult time with the way I started that story. So I'm redoing it. It will be worth while to re-read the beginning chapters since they start in a totally different place than the other chapters did. This is a prologue and soon I will have the first chapter up. I promise to never do this again.

Sincerely,

Scarlett

There is a point, where the mind is over-whelmed with grief, confusion, fear, anger and questions that it just stops trying. Ears stop hearing, eyes stop believing, mind stops computing, the nose refuses to take in the smoke and the mouth keeps screaming, but it doesn't matter.

It's like being shut out of your own body. Being so disoriented you feel like you're watching yourself on TV, wondering where the remote is. And while you can feel the cold sting of the night's air on your skin fighting against the heat of the fire, it's nothing in contrast to the battle going on inside. Being able to believe that unicorns are the purest of creatures, understanding the magic that is hidden in the world, enforcing the hope that giants and wizards will one day live in harmony and practicing flying on broomsticks was easy in comparison to trying to deal with having the world as you know it crumble around you.

The burn of tears, the painful screams and colorful swears don't even measure up to the storm of crazy that's just starting.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Right of Wrong Doings

The young witch picked up her head and walked boldly through the doors. If she was going to do this, she was going to do it now and she wasn't taking "no" for an answer.

The great hall was clad with enthusiastic dancers, timid first years, minus the hard-core partiers who didn't even bothering to show up (jumping straight to the after-party) and most importantly teachers. Marley pondered where she fit in with all those categories. Frazzled with all the information she'd been fed, all these emotions that had been building up and all the unhelpful people she'd crossed paths with, Marley didn't even know herself anymore. She didn't know what she was doing or why really. Did she even want this? Recently it was the only thing that had been keeping her attached to reality.

Reflexively, the young witch's hand clasped her locket. One thing she did know was she didn't want to be anywhere near the reality she was living.

Her eyes scanned the crowd, checking the usual places he dwelled. Sure enough in the relatively dark shadow of a large fireplace, Snape lurked. Marley wasn't quite ready to make her move. No, instead she hid from his sight, on the other side of the room.

What she needed was leverage, a playing card. She was only going to get one chance at this; every move, thought and glance had to perfectly executed. Thus what she required must be sturdy enough to influence with out alarming him, well too much anyway.

The young witch leaned against the wall next to the punch table and thought carefully about everything she knew about Severus Snape.

#

Marley Faith Anderson walked into her Potions class Monday afternoon with every intension of telling Katie, her best friend, everything. She was going to tell her every single detail that she missed during the summer. Sure, writing by owl let them communicate, but some things just cannot be expressed by letter. Not like Marley didn't try.

"Marley," Katie began, as Marley seated herself at a table six rows from the front of the dark classroom, "I have a bit of a confession." Deep breath, "I know I've sworn to despise Slytherins, you know except you and Damien, but Theodore Nott is beautiful."

An involuntary laugh on Marley's part, "You're allowed your opinion, despite how preposterous I think it is."

Gryffindor, Katie Sullivan, was a relatively short foreigner in comparison to all the other British students at Hogwarts. Blonde, bob-cut hair swished back and forth as she shook her head in disagreement, "I don't see what's wrong with him! Over the summer he seems to come into himself quite well." The blatant country drawl hanging on to each vowel while her jade eyes glanced back at an unsuspecting Theodore, who was currently leaning against his table chatting up Pansy Parkinson.

Before, Marley had the opportunity to respond, Damien Trent plopped down gracefully on Marley's other side, "I quite agree with Katie, Nott is all man now."

It is by pure wonder how the hell Damien came to be in Slytherin. On the outside he was a practical student to be in the dungeon house with his tall, lean frame and dark hair. He had green eyes, a million-galleon smile and money to burn. However, on the inside he was completely gay. Damien was careful not to be flamboyantly so, but he was quite proud.

"Okay, well I have a confession too. I think we should get another friend in our group, so that there is someone else who agrees with me." Marley's humor was dry, but duo laughed anyway.

"Please, who is going to-" Damien's next sentence was cut off by the bang of the door as Professor Snape billowed into the room. It was only week 2, but already Marley was tired of her head of house.

Most of the other Slytherins didn't understand why Marley didn't approve of Snape. The way they saw it was that he was mean and scary, but he held the fear of a great majority of students in the school; and fear was power and power is everything. The young witch just saw it as unnecessary. That being said it was undeniable that he still frightened her, but Marley wouldn't admit that.

"Who was Safran Osage?" Severus's tenor voice cut the silent air. He looked around the room, ignoring Hermione's hand and looked for an unsuspecting student, "Mr. Thomas."

Dean sat up straighter in his seat and looked down at his Potion's book uncomfortably, "Inventor of the Wolf bane potion?" He offered weakly. Knowing his answer was wrong.

"No. Five points from Gryffindor for not paying attention last year." Severus paused, "Perhaps, Mr. Malfoy, you could enlighten us?"

With a smug look, Draco answered, "He was a linguist, who is said to have been able to speak all the languages ever created. As it goes, he put his knowledge into the Maclura Pomifera; which is why it is used as the main ingredient of language-related potions."

Severus nodded and looked back to his class, "Turn to page 39. You and a partner have exactly 35 minutes to create for me Linguana Accipio. Start."

Frantically each of 7th years turned to each other finding a lab buddy before heading to the closet containing all the ingredients and utensils.

Katie grabbed Damien, who prided himself on not doing badly last year and gave Marley an apologetic smile before following the crowd of students. The young witch narrowed her eyes and scanned the room for another loner.

Neville Longbottom stared at his book with a grimace and to Marley's dismay, partner-less. It wasn't like she didn't like Neville, in her experience he was quite nice, but infamously horrible at potions. Despite her preference, the witch was forced to approach him, "No partner either?"

He looked at her with a bit of surprise, "Yeah."

She smiled and looked down at the recipe in his textbook. It didn't look too hard, "How about we be partners?"

Neville nodded and smiled politely, "I'll grab the ingredients." And he was off.

Marley began heating up the cauldron and prepping the station. Neville returned with an arms-full of flowers and a jar or two of other ingredients. The wizard laid the flowers out on the table while the witch read aloud the first direction, "Slice off the stems of each of the 30 Maclura Pomifera and crush out the juice with the side of the blade." For safe measure, Marley demonstrated the process before having Neville start.

The Maclura Pomifera was an ugly plant. The flower head was bark brown, bumpy and circular. Attached to the tip of each bump was a thorn that was persistently non-crushable. It didn't help that it had a mind of its own and desperately rolled away from the flat side of their blades. Most times the knife would just roll off with a thud on the wooden counter top. Yet, somehow both she and Neville managed (with the assistance of some colorful swearing). During the whole twenty minutes it took them to do an ideally simple process, they chatted. Marley wasn't about to open up her most deep down secrets, but there was something quite trusting in Neville. He was painfully simple and honest and that was appealing to his character.

"So," Neville sighed, while nearly cutting him self as yet another thorny flower escaped grip, "What'd your summer?"

Marley paused, "I, uh, danced." She looked up at him and smiled, "Every summer that I've spent away from Hogwarts I've spent taking dance lessons. Since I only have about 3 months to learn a whole routine and perform it, the classes just about take up my summer life."

Neville was grinning, "I love dancing!" He immediately turned a rather dark shade of red as he realized how loud that was, "Well, you know." He meekly finished.

Marley nodded, "I remember you dancing at the balls in years past."

"Yeah, it's one of the few things I actually have merit in. You know, along with Herbology." Neville said with a bit of pride in his voice.

Marley giggled a little, "That's cool."

"Mr. Finnegan, please try and refrain from exploding yet another simple task." Professor Snape's sullen voice articulated.

Abruptly, Neville stiffened and shot out one of the plant heads across the table. Marley looked Neville over, "I knew Snape intimidated you, but that's bad."

Neville didn't meet Marley's eye, "He down right scares the hell out of me. It's like when I most expect him to sneak up behind me he doesn't and when I least expect him to, he's always there with something to say." He paused, "It always catches me off guard."

The young witch shrugged and went back to capturing the flower, "He's just an irritable professor who needs to get-"

"Get what?" Right after the hairs on the back of Neville's neck pricked up, Snape's voice pierced the air.

Marley's mind raced for a suitable answer: _laid, bent, a shower?_ "What?"

Snape mentally growled, "An irritable professor who needs to get what?"

"I don't know, what?" Marley responded as she turned to face him dead on.

"Is this a joke? I don't think that's how a joke works." Marley frowned, "Unless it's a riddle. Hmm, let me think…"

Snape glared at her and Marley began to be concerned about how much her knees were shaking.

Yet she persisted, "Oh wait. Am I supposed to get something?" The young witch glanced back at her potions book, "I'm pretty sure I got everything…"

"Prof-Professor Snape, I" Neville turned to face Snape, but his hand caught on the side of the cauldron full of half-finished potion. It tipped on its side and its contents splashed all over Marley.

Everything got really cold and the room began to spin in crazy directions. Desperately the young witch attempted to grab onto the table for support, but that too spun away from her grasp and she landed with a crack on the stone floor.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Right of Wrong Doings

Severus Snape watched his student in the cot in the Infirmary. He was studying her really. It wasn't like this wasn't the first incident where in his class he's had to bring a student to the infirmary, but he felt slightly responsible for this one. He couldn't really bring himself to say that he caused it, but chances were it wouldn't have happened had he not been there.

Her head was resting against the pillow and her tight espresso colored curls spread about her face. The pale complexion of her skin brought out the natural pinks of her lips and cheeks. Though he couldn't actually see her eyes, because they were shut, he could just imagine them glaring right at him.

Usually he couldn't remember distinct details about his students, because for the most part, he didn't care. But he remembered her eyes. It took him a while to really pin-point it, but they were very direct. Something about those blue-flame-colored eyes pierced him. Yet it was only this year he really noticed it. It was really only this year he had noticed her.

As he watched Marley, Severus wondered what had changed about her this year. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was different.

If there was ever a need for a healing potion, Marley decided, it was here and now. It was like a ghost was reaching into her skull and trying to rip her brain out. The pressure was unbearable in the back of her head, but radiated up to her retinas. She just wanted to drill a hole in her skull to alleviate the tension.

Marley squinted her eyes open and scanned the room around her. The witch recognized the familiar stone walls, white cots and uncomfortable gowns that she was dressed up in, from the Infirmary.

It was when Professor Snape, Madame Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore were spotted at the end of her bed did she realize something bad happened.

Marley searched her memories, determined to remember. Slowly it came back to her; Neville knocking over the cauldron, the cold numbing her body, the hazy, spinning room. Her only thought was "Neville".

Her thoughts were subsided by another wave of aching pain in cerebellum. She looked over at the gathering of officials and waited for someone to look at her. Finally after about ten seconds, the witch said, "hello?"

Well. At least she tried to.

No sound escaped her lips. Marley frowned and tried again, "I'm awake."

Nothing.

Reflexively Marley grasped her throat. She tried phrase after phrase. Desperate for something to be said or heard.

Finally Marley began waving her arms and Professor Dumbledore broke away from whatever he was saying to greet her, "Ms. Anderson."

She slammed her hands down her laps and attempted to say, "My voice is gone. What the hell did you do to me!" To no avail.

"Oh Ms. Anderson just tell us what's wrong, there's no need to be flailing your arms about like that." Madame Pomfrey scolded.

The young witch rolled her eyes. After a bit more gesturing another comment was made, "Professor Snape, it appears this accident has lost Ms. Anderson her voice."

Madame Pomfrey, already aware of that, began fussing over Marley, who was in no mood to be fussed over. After an assessment of her physical state, the nurse shrugged, "It appears that she has no physical handicaps. Her retinas show no damage, the larynx isn't damaged or even irritated. There appear to be no other indicators that could show why she physically can't speak."

"So this is completely magical." Albus clarified.

"Yes."

There was an awkward pause.

The witch slammed her hand on the bed and gestured something along the lines of "And…"

"I do have medicines that could give her a voice again. However it's a powerful potion. It's not designed to actually make her speak, it's designed to reset everything in her body. I'd use it under the idea that I could reset the pathway between her brain and her mouth. Usually, it's something that would be used to heal someone who is more or less comatose. Such a powerful, and unnecessary step might make matters worse. That and because it's not created for this purpose, it could not even work."

Silence, "What do you propose then?" the Headmaster asked.

"Besides what I've told you, I don't have any more suggestions than to let it run its course. The potion that was spilled is unknown really. Since her skin absorbed it, we can't get an exact sample to counter it. Unless you have a counter measure I don't know of?" The question was directed to Snape.

"No. I do not."

Marley could do nothing other than look expectantly at her superiors.

Albus spoke once more, "Is she otherwise well?"

Madame Pomfrey looked at Marley who rubbed her head to show that her it was in pain, which the nurse medicated soon after. The young Slytherin was instructed to then stand up and move her limbs to demonstrate she wasn't paralyzed elsewhere.

"I don't see why she can't even go back to classes tomorrow." Madame Pomfrey concluded.

Dumbledore nodded and looked at Marley. "Why don't you get dressed and I'll walk you back to your dormitory?"

The curtains were pulled and Marley put her clothes back on, minus the shoes and robe, which Marley decided she was only going to lose upon reaching her room anyway.

When the young witch was properly clothed and returned to Professor Dumbledore, who chose to ignore her shoe-less-ness, Snape was gone and Madame Pomfrey was back in her office.

Professor Dumbledore offered her a kind smile, which Marley appreciated. She met his smile and began following his lead down to the Dungeons.

"Now Ms. Anderson I'm sure you have many questions, which I'm afraid I can't answer. You know about as much as I do at this point." He sighed, "Which, I fear is poor leadership of me that I cannot solve this whole dilemma for you, however, we must deal with the situation ahead. The most present issue is how you're going to be able to communicate. During class, your professors may choose to approach this problem however they see fit. My concern is in case of an emergency how you may call for help." Marley nodded to show understanding, "I may have a solution to this problem, but I must retrieve it."

The witch looked at her headmaster with curiosity.

"Tomorrow after your classes, come to my office." He smiled, "As for your classes, if you are to experience any issues, I should be in my office all day."

They walked down a long windowed corridor just ahead of the moving staircases. A minute of silence passed.

"I am aware of your other situation." Albus said solemnly.

Marley shot him a look so fast, she got whip-lash.

"It's my job as headmaster to know these things. And I'm sorry. Normally, I'd offer you to my office at anytime to talk, but seeing as that's no longer possible, I'm inviting you to my office to express yourself in anyway you see fit."

She hadn't gotten over the idea that he knew, to even process what he was saying.

They stopped at the wall of a door to the Slytherin dorms, Marley gave him a puzzled look. It was a hell of a bomb-shell to drop all at once.

"Well here is where I leave you. Good night, Ms. Anderson." He turned to the wall where he silently opened the door and left.

For a moment, the young witch had to collect herself. The words "What?" and "The Fuck?" kept repeating themselves in her mind. Finally she walked through the passage before emerging into the Slytherin common room.

A soft green glow hung around the dark furniture. She could see her classmates gathered around in various areas talking and doing homework. Usually, Marley would saunter over to the nearest group and join the conversation, but right now she was more interested in some warm pajamas and her bed. It wasn't like nobody was interested. Everyone had seen her collapse and most turned to see what happened, but she wasn't exactly in the mood to deal with silently explaining the whole ordeal.

Breakfast the next morning was relatively interesting. She hadn't even gotten to the Great Hall when Katie came running up behind her and smothering Marley with a huge hug.

"What the hell is your problem!" the southern accent pricked up, "You collapse during potions class. Snape carries you out of the room, class is over, you not heard of for hours. I was worried out of my mind, Madame Pomfrey wouldn't let me in to see you and, AND!" She repeated, "I thought you were bloody dead! How could life possibly go on with out you here? I can't very well explain the pains of life, or even, being a girl to Damien, because, because he's Damien and he's a guy! He's not a girl!"

Marley recognized the common dramatic gestures and hair bobbing of when Katie is all worked up.

"Then, this morning I pass by Pansy and her group of snake-sucking whores and she's talking about how you just walked into the commons and went to bed!" Katie turned to her best friend expecting a reply, but when none came she kept going. "You didn't even try to tell me you were all right! I was up all night and nothing. Just. What the hell?"

With furrowed eyebrows Marley thought of how she could explain this. The dark haired witch calmly and slowly mouthed the word "I".

"What are you doing? I'm in no state to deal with this just tell me what you're thinking!"

Marley shot her a look and she tried again with mouthing the words, "I…can't…talk. No…voice."

The southerner just sort of stared at Marley, "You're dumb?" Quickly she corrected herself, "Like, you can't speak?"

Marley nodded.

"For how long?" She asked.

The witch shrugged.

"Well that's bloody great!" the duo proceeded walking towards the Great Hall. There was a bit of silence, "I hope this doesn't last long. I'm going to miss you're snarky comments."

Marley smiled and they sat down at their usual spot in the back of the hall. Damien was already there and he didn't look happy, "You were back last night and didn't even-"

Katie held up her hand to stop Damien's ranting, "Damien. We have a problem."

There was a pause where Damien's green eyes passed between Marley and Katie, "Oh Merlin, you're not pregnant are you."

Both of the girl's eye bugged out and immediately shook their heads, "No, no!" Katie spoke for both of them, "No, Merlin, why would you even think that. She didn't get laid last night, she just collapsed!"

Damien shrugged, "I always thought one day, Marley would come in after a mysterious night and tell us she was knocked up."

Had Marley had the ability to speak, she would have ripped him a new one. Sure she'd been around the block a few times, but she wasn't a whore.

"No. She can't speak. That damn potion took her voice away."

"Oh that's worse. Much worse." Damien agreed, in a ghastly non-helpful tone.

Personally, Marley thought they were being over-dramatic. It was unfortunate, but not _this_ bad. However, she was in no position to stop them now.

"You know I bet Snape planned this. He was right there when it happened and he's super sneaky and mean. Besides, he never really liked any of us. I wonder if we're next!"

Classes went by awkwardly, it wasn't like Marley usually talked anyway, but each time the Professor's went to ask a question of the class, they'd give her a glance and quickly look over her. Relief came at the end of the day when classes were over.

Maybe it was because of such a weird day and the young witch desperately wanted to speak again, but Marley made good pace getting to Dumbledore's office. However, when she was met by the staircase, she realized she didn't know the password. Or even if she did, how to use it.

_Dumbledore wouldn't be so thick that he'd forget to tell her the password, right? Maybe I don't need one…_ Marley thought.

Was it motion activated? That would just be stupid. Then anyone could get into his office. Then again his office wasn't supposed to private, necessarily. Anyone _should_ be allowed access.

Marley looked left then right and left again, before jumping up and down, while waving her arms.

From about 10 yards behind her, Severus Snape slowed his steady pace at the sight of his student awkwardly jumping. A smirk tugged at his lips, _silly girl, _he thought. She persisted for about ten seconds before stopping.

"I would ask what you're doing, but that would be pointless wouldn't it?" Severus inwardly smiled at his joke.

The Slytherin student went completely still and slowly turned to look at her Head of House feeling quite embarrassed. _I really wish he'd stop sneaking up on me like that. _

Professor Snape looked directly into fiery blue eyes, "Peppermint Toads." The golden bird in front of them began to twist with the stair case. Marley followed her professor up the stairs to the door.

Inside, Professor Dumbledore was busy doing something at his desk. When they entered he smiled and stood up.

"Good. You're both here."

Before this point, Marley thought her Head of House was here on other means of business, but now she was curious. Why was he here?

"Now, I have given some thought to the situation and I have decided the most direct and useful tool I can give to assist you," he looked at Marley, "are the Mismatch Mind Rings."

Instantly, Marley was not okay with the situation. She had already lost her voice. She wasn't prepared to lose her mind too.

A book levitated from a book shelf behind Professor Dumbledore's desk to on the table. The pages turned to a page about 3 quarters of the way into the book.

Dumbledore looked over the pristine page and seemed to be learning the spell. Marley took this time to cut Snape a sideways glance. He seemed preoccupied with the Headmaster.

Albus picked up his wand and pointed it silently at a clear spot on his desk next to a bowl of lemon drops. An amber pulse of light escaped his wand with a flash. Now on the desk were two rings.

"As I mentioned last night, my number one priority is your safety. In case of an emergency you will be able to contact Professor Snape with these." He handed Marley a small ring with an engraved "S" on it and larger one for Severus with a similar "M" on his, "You'll have to figure out how to communicate with others on your own, unfortunately, but this is better than nothing."

The witch played with the ring in her hands. She wasn't really sure about this.

Severus watched Marley's expressions and decided they both felt similarly about this. He didn't like the sound of the rings either. He didn't even know what they did. While he did trust Dumbledore's decision, it didn't mean he approved it, "What, exactly, do these do?"

"They will link your minds. Since it is understood that the only thing Ms. Anderson lacks is a voice to speak her mind with, what's needed is a tool to project that voice. Since I do not have on of those, these will have to do. By connecting your thoughts, if necessary, she can call you for help and vice versa." Dumbledore carefully watched both their expressions, trying to read their thoughts.

Of course both of them were not fond of this idea. In fact, both down right hated it.

"I know this isn't a great option, but it is better than death." Albus said slowly.

Severus looked carefully at the sterling silver ring, as if pondering every possible way out. Finally after about a minute he slid it onto his finger. Marley disagreed completely, but did the same.

At that moment a loud suctioning noise filled the room and then abruptly ceased with a pop.

_"What was that?" _Marley thought and Severus heard.

The potion's master could only sigh. _"Brilliant."_


	4. Chapter 3

Dearest Readers,

Sorry it's been taking me so long to post stories. You'd never believe how crazy my life has been. I promise to try and speed things up!

Hoping you had wonderful holidays,

Scarlett

Chapter 3

Marley wanted to say something. To verify what Professor Dumbledore had just explained about the rings, but what to say? This was her Head of House, because of her rather negative opinion of him, Marley felt it was that important not to sound like an idiot. Especially because he just previously found her bouncing around like an idiot not minutes ago.

_"Uh, best not to sound silly." _Marley thought at first. Then slowly the witch thought: _"Can you hear me?"_

_"That did sound silly." _Snape responded.

It frazzled Marley even more that he had heard her original thoughts too. It must be really easy for him to hear her, but why couldn't she hear his stupid ideas? That wasn't even the most important thought in her mind, _"I really don't like this. I would never tell you anything about me, now you get full access. No. Hell no."_ She blinked at herself, _"You just heard all that. Shit. Not like I didn't want you to know, but I don't want you to know all of that, like this!"_ The young witch looked over at her Head of House with a very concerned look.

Severus, while his mind was racing with the same thoughts. He, however, used Occlumency to elude his thoughts from her mind, except the ones he wanted her to hear. He met her panicked look with a calm, yet still pissy one.

She paused staring at him, _"Aren't you going to protest? Or at least tell him I do!"_

"Ms. Anderson wishes for me to express to you that she protests. While we're taking opinions, I'd like to say I concur." He paused and carefully articulated his words, "I feel like it doesn't do either of us any good to potentially view each other's deepest thoughts."

Little did Ms. Anderson know, but all to Severus's awareness, Professor Dumbledore could hear everything she thought with his Legilimency. However, he was keeping that card to himself for now.

Marley's mind wasn't done, though, she was already preparing herself for the next comment, _"Besides, who the hell is going to come after me? In all my years at Hogwarts I've never suffered an injury greater then hand cramps and paper cuts! Not even a broken bone! If I'm not going to be in serious enough danger that I can't retrieve help, or a band aid for myself, what's the purpose of these rings?"_

Silently, Severus was feeding into her thoughts and agreeing with all of them.

He thought about this himself, surely Albus had thought of that already. The Headmaster wasn't dim about such things. Surely, Dumbledore had some other motivation for these rings. Severus, wasn't in a position to ask him just then, so he just put that thought aside.

"Ms. Anderson, this is the best option and there are no other alternatives that satisfy all our needs. So, as uncomfortable as this maybe now, you're both going to have to coop with it, until your voice returns." Dumbledore said definitively.

This didn't calm down either of the ring holders, but suppressed Marley's mind tangent.

_"What if I were to take this off?"_ Marley thought to Severus. At first the Potion's master didn't do anything, _"Ask him!"_

"What if we were to take the rings off?" Severus inquired, however the boredom in his voice, despite how curious he was of the same question, made the clear impression it was Marley who wanted to know.

Dumbledore shrugged, "They wouldn't work I suppose."

The witch was concerned with this response. Before she could push the topic herself, Severus already was, "You don't know?"

The Headmaster pulled a Lemon Drop from a bowl and his desk and popped it in his mouth. After a moment of sucking on it he responded, "Well this is the first time I've put them into effect. Normally, I wouldn't risk such a thing upon my students or staff, however do to certain circumstances," He lightly paused and Marley caught that the reference was directed towards her, causing her to hang her head a little more, "I determined it was necessary."

Severus watched her reactions. As much as he didn't want these rings either, he didn't want to be the one to cause a huge fuss, when someone else was already doing their best. His student pushed the silver band around on her finger.

_"Do I take the risk? If no one really knows the consequences, I could just make things worse by taking it off."_ A list formed in Marley's mind instantly of all the consequences, death being at the top of the worst-case-scenario portion, _"I could leave it on for now and if I really find a need later, I can take it off, right?"_ The same ideas passed through her mind again before she remembered she wasn't the only one making these decisions.

_"What do you think?" _Her voice rung in Severus's mind.

Using Occlumency made it easier for him to figure this out without exposing himself, but he still didn't know what to say, _"I don't like them," _He paused, _"However, I do understand Professor Dumbledore's…hesitations." _ No one was after her specifically, but she wasn't pure blood and in this war that was enough to put her at risk. He knew as much as anyone, but didn't tell her that.

_"You're no help."_ She thought, followed by a silent,_ "Damn."_ Again noticing he could hear. It was like drinking pumpkin juice all day and then resisting the urge to pee; it was going to happen whether you liked it or not.

She sighed and shrugged.

"Well then," Dumbledore nodded, "I am here if you have anymore questions."

_"Right because you were so helpful for the ones I already had."_ Marley thought, not even bothering to apologize or swear about her comment.

Severus rolled his eyes.

Marley gave a slight nodded and silently excused herself, no longer wanting to be here. The hopes she had of getting a voice back or at least having a form of communication to have with her friends, besides carrying around a quill and parchment, were now of course crushed. So she sulked back to the dungeons.

The potions master remained, still having more to be discussed. After the door was securely shut and a few moments had passed, to ensure the young witch was gone, Severus spoke, "You are sure this won't endanger my position in the war."

An audible suck of lemon, "I'm certain that when the day is over, your cover will be protected."

Of course, Snape was not so sure. Often times, Severus played along with the illusion that Dumbledore is psychic in some way and can predict the future in such ways, as some students think. At this moment, it was just easier to pretend he was right and that there wouldn't be a concern.

"That being said, make sure you keep up on your Occlumency, I may have good faith, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't tread lightly." Albus cautioned.

There was a pause, "Sir, what risk is she at? Why _must_ we use the rings? Or why even me? Wouldn't it be better if she was linked to a … female?"

"I have thought about all your concerns, Severus," Albus diplomatically responded, "And it is in my strongest suspicion that this is the best route for…future purposes." He smiled, "It may take a while to adjust, but you will both learn to enjoy those bands."

Severus nodded and left; Funny how there was a whole lot of risk with Severus in all this and not a lot of Albus… With a sigh, he suppressed himself. There was no use in him getting all agitated.

Marley decided, on her way back to the dungeons, that the worst part about these rings was there was no cap to the thoughts. Every miniscule thought that passed her mind went straight into his. _Well,_ she thought, _for me anyway._ How come she couldn't hear his thoughts? Was that how his brain worked? Is that how all men's brains work? They just think when they need to; no more, no less?

When the witch got back to the entrance of the Slytherin common room, Marley hit a wall. No literally. The wall to the common room was protected by a password. Right now it was "Pure Blood" as it practically always was.

Being half-blood, Marley was surprised she got into Slytherin. However her surprise grew more and more as she realized the many traits of a Slytherin she did not enjoy. Such as the arrogance many carried with them. Marley just had the biggest urge to tell all of them to just "get over yourselves!" But the witch never seemed to have found herself in the appropriate place and position to make such a statement.

But back to the problem at hand: getting in. The door was sealed by a magical password – so in extent a spell, right? So theoretically it would just be silent magic for her to get the door to open. It was a good plan, but Marley still didn't know how to practice silent magic.

_"Now is as good as anytime to learn."_ She resolved.

With a deep breath Marley narrowed her eyes at the wall. _"Pure Blood"_

Nothing.

She straightened her stance, as if that would help, and tried again, _"Pure Blood."_

A rat scurried behind her, but that was all that moved.

_"And…Pure Blood!"_ Marley pointed at the door as if to help move the password to the door. Nada.

With much frustration she mentally shouted, _"Pure Blood! Pure Blood! Pure Blood!"_ Waving her hands around for no purpose than to physically exert her frustration.

Much to her relief, Daphne Greengrass came walking down the dungeon hall and spotted Marley.

"Oh, Hello." Daphne nodded.

Marley gave a little wave.

"Pure Blood." Daphne commanded the wall and it opened instantly. Marley couldn't help, but feel a pang of jealousy in her chest. Bitch.

The next morning, Marley awoke to find her cat, Bernard, sleeping in the crook of her leg.

_"Hello."_ Marley mouthed, if she couldn't talk. She stroked his back.

Bernard was your usual fat cat. He was a brown tabby, whose thick fur was not only good for keeping a small section of your body exceptionally warm during the winter, but also for getting many strands of unwanted hair on _all_ your black clothing.

When he was around, Bernard followed Marley everywhere. Often to the annoyance of all her teachers, but for a week or so at a time he would leave and go wherever cats go. It was a continuing thought she pondered in her free time. Was there some sort of cat haven hiding in the castle somewhere?

After Marley took her shower, she scrunched her boob-length dark curly locks and manually put make up on around her blue eyes, which was frustrating because she couldn't use a simple charm to do it as usual.

_"How do I look?" _She asked Bernard who was seated on the sink, even though he couldn't actually hear her.

Ready for the day, Marley walked to the Great Hall with Bernard trotting behind her.

Damien was already there when Marley arrived, "You should know," he began, "that all yesterday afternoon, Katie has been going on and on about some plan she's thinking up. I'm a little worried she's gonna make me do something." He picked up a banana a took a bite, "I'm serious."

Marley understood his concern once Katie came to join them. The whole meal she kept to herself – off in her own world. Damien and Marley exchanged looks as Katie muttered to herself.

"Girl," the wizard tried, "What are ya doing?"

She looked at him for a second, "Do you think that would work?" Before going back to her oatmeal.

The mute witch raised her eyebrows.

"Bitch gone mad." Damien resolved. He took another bite of breakfast before telling Marley about this "Crazy Bitch" he met in the library last night.

Things had not gotten much better during lunch. Katie was totally entranced with her own thoughts still. She turned to Marley with a piece of grilled cheese still rolling around in her mouth, "Theodore is more intelligent than to fall for that."

_"Oh_._" _Marley realized, _"This is about Theodore Nott."_

"Oh Murlan!" Damien rolled his eyes and raised his palm as if to separate him from Katie, "Is this about getting a damn boyfriend? Listen, just because you don't have a boyfriend right now doesn't mean your any less of a great women. It just means you don't have a boyfriend right now!"

Katie instantly snapped out of her world and crash landed back to the conversation with a sneer on her face, "No! This not because I don't have _a_ boyfriend! And I don't think I'm any less amazing! I want Theo! And it's not going to happen by chance! Damn it!" Her hair swishing about as she scolded. Bernard jumped in shock at Katie's sudden burst, in Marley's lap with his claws quickly digging into her leg.

"'Scuse me!" Damien muttered and went back to his lunch.

The silent witch just petted Bernard and look between the two. It was then she decided she wanted a distraction. So she scanned the room for someone's conversation to eaves drop on. Instead, her eyes fell upon the faculty table. More specifically: Professor Snape.

She looked at the ring on her finger and decided to test it out.

_"I wonder how far these rings work." _Marley inquired with her eyes trained carefully on her Head of House. There was no response to her remark, but he could just be avoiding her.

_"Dumbledore looks like Santa Clause."_ She tried. Snape just kept on pushing food around on his plate, _"I suppose asking Professor McGonagall 'What's new, pussycat?' would get me a detention." _Not a flinch.

Marley decided to try something radical; what was the harm if he couldn't hear her anyway? _"I wonder what Snape looks like in a bra?"_

This awarded her a sideways glance from Snape who had just been addressed by Professor Flitwick.

The witch giggled and went back to her meal.

At dinner, Katie decided to finally join the sane world once again, "I," Katie declared as Marley took a bit of Mystery Meat, "have a plan."

"Oh Hell." Damien sighed, "Go on. Let's hear it."

"Since the stars have not yet aligned for Theodore and I, I've decided to come up with my own scheme to make it all work out." A smug look of satisfaction was perched proudly above her chin.

Marley stopped eating and expressed to Katie that she had their undivided attention, without disturbing Bernard who was settled on her lap.

"Well, Darling, I'm glad your so interested because I sort of need your help" She explained, Marley furrowed her brow as she tried to determine whether or not she really wanted to participate in Katie's shenanigans while she was incapacitated, "My plan goes as follows: You know how Theodore and Draco Malfoy have become practically BFFs this year? Well I thought, Marley here, could use her sexy powers of persuasion to cuddle up to Draco."

It was then that Marley gagged, just a bit. It wasn't like Marley found him repulsive, it was more that she disapproved of how spineless he was. Sure he talked big, but behind that bravado there was no bite to match his bark. It urked her how fake he was.

"Listen, honey," Katie grabbed her friend's shoulder, "I know you disapprove of your house, but Thomas isn't so bad. I mean, obviously Slytherins aren't so bad if you and Damien are ones yourselves." She paused and analyzed the weary expression on Marley's face. Katie's eye turned big and pleading, "Besides, it's for me… your best friend forever, since forever, for forever…"

The young speechless witch didn't like watching her – very, very dramatic – friend beg. So Marley rolled her eyes and finally nodded.

The doe eyes instantly disappeared and a smile lit up Katie's face, "Thanks doll!"

Damien shrugged, "I don't know why you think Draco so awful. Like, I'd consider it if his door swung that way." His gay fantasies shining through a sigh into his cup.

Marley sighed and looked away, half-wishing she could explain.

Katie cleared her throat and brought the attention back to her, "Anyway, so when Marley hangs out with Draco, I'll go along with her because Theodore is going to be hanging out with Draco. Then while Marley is distracting Draco, I'll cozy up to Thomas." Katie finished, feeling quite proud.

Apparently, Marley was the only one who saw that that was a lot of responsibility for someone who can't even say "hi."

As for Damien, he had many questions posed, prepared to burst Katie's pretty-in-pink bubble, "What makes you so sure that's gonna work? Like because can't get one relationship to work, your going to start another one to fix the first one? Like, bitch, get your act together and just ask him out. No more of this nonsense."

Defiant as usual Katie shook her bob, "It doesn't work that way!"

Damien's face scrunched up in confusion, "What the fuck are you talking about? People ask people out all the time!"

"People who know each other's name! I'm pretty sure Theodore doesn't even know I exist! By doing it this way, we'll meet, greet and bone." Katie reasoned.

"Wait; hold up. Are you trying to be his girlfriend or one night stand?" Damien asked, "If you just want to fuck him, get him drunk at the next party." He smiled at Marley, who had been watching the conversation with amusement, "How's that for a plan?"

Katie wasn't amused, "Both really. Of course I want to bone him, but if we go out, I'll get to hold his hand and bone him. And I'll have someone to take me out and…" She trailed off into her fantasy.

Personally, Marley thought she sounded immature, the way she was talking, but she was in no position to protest.

"Just trust me," Katie said more to Marley than Damien, "This is what we must do to accomplish the task at hand."

_"Yeah…about that."_ Marley thought.


	5. Chapter 4

Dearest Readers,

I just want to reaffirm that I am aware that this is a Severus/OC fanfiction. But for the plot of the story this portion is required. So bear with me for the next chapter or 3.

See Ya!

Scarlett

Chapter 4

Long white-stocking-ed legs slowly pulled themselves into a releve, as the beginning of piano music began. Gradually the right foot's toes slide up the calf of the left leg. A passé formed as the tapping of ivory keys grew more out of beat and frequent. The dancer's arms began to sway and make abstract shapes in the air. The rhythm moved down the svelte torso and shook through her tutu.

It was clear that all that the dancer was on a pitch black stage with bright lights focused on her. She was the only sign of color and she was dressed in a morbid gray-purple tutu that was covered in black lace. Even the corset that she was wearing was marked with black swirls and laced flowers. She had her hair pinned back, but the shadow that the light cast covered her face.

The limb held in passé now curved backwards and up her back to behind her head. Her hand reached out and grasped the tips of the firm-toed shoe.

The pianist began to form a rhythmic sound that was soft and gentle. In time with each other the ballet ballerina and the pianist began to portray a mood.

It was sad. As she spun, plie -ed and coiled back into crouched positions, it made her look in pain. Like she wanted out of whatever was going on. She made desperate, but weak leaps, only to fall down. Then just when she seemed to be reaching a climax of hopelessness and the piano music grew to be loud and intense it all stopped as she attempted a huge leap, only to fail.

Where she fell is where she coiled up into the fetal position. There was no music and the urge to help her was building up. The want for her to succeed and not lay there in misery was over whelming.

She was able to pull herself up though. It took several tries, but she stood up and pushed herself into a passé turn. It did one revolution and the lean ballet dancer tripped over her own feet and out of the spin. Frustrated and determined she tried again. This time two revolutions came out before she tripped out. Then finally she pushed herself into a strong spin that spun for several revolutions.

Upbeat music came from the ivory keys in the background. Once more she pulled herself into a tight spin. Although instead of turning into a black and purple blur, she turned into a gray blur and into a white blur. Her hair broke out of the tight bun and into sporadic, but beautiful curls that when she stopped cascaded down her face, that was still hidden in shadow, when she stopped.

Now her tutu was instead of being gray-purple with black lace was now a radiant purple with white lace. Similarly was her corset, but now it was bejeweled and eye attracting, as opposed to blending into the background.

She didn't stand frozen for long. Instantly she began leaping and twirling around the dark stage. Twisting in stage seemed effortless and impossible to the girl who was just falling all over the place not minutes ago. But not to this new radiant dancer.

As a finale the girl went over to the piano and slid graciously on top of the black surface, before leaping and spinning in a beautiful whirl onto the floor where after standing in fifth position for a few seconds so the music could end. Then once it was over she collapsed happily to the floor. Applause erupted as the girl relaxed and let her breath catch up with her.

Severus sat straight up in his bed. He wasn't one to dream, but even when he did, never was it about ballerinas. A cold sweat was on his forehead; it had been a long time since a dream had bothered him. Why the hell was he dreaming about ballerinas?

Of all her classes – Potions was becoming exceptionally interesting. In the beginning it was awkward. Marley spent all class complete focused, just in case her mind were to wander and Professor Snape could hear them. In the beginning it bothered her that she couldn't tell if he was there – hell – it still bothered her. But now, it was amusing.

During class, Marley would play with the rings. Like one day when Professor Snape was talking about the potency of lake leeches.

"When the leeches are used for their juices..."

Two seconds after Marley would think, "When the leeches are used for their juices…"

He continued despite the first distractions, "…the effect is one…"

"…the effect is one…"

Professor Snape shot Marley a terrifying look, but recently she'd been feeling cocky. And the rings provided a good outlet for this kind of feeling, since it wasn't provable that she was messing with Snape's head.

"…one of general deterioration."

"…one of general deterioration." Marley echoed.

"As for…" Severus was just glaring at his student.

"As for…"

"Using it…"

This time Marley repeated as he was saying the word still.

"Using it…"

"…as a tool for…for appli-licating your potion." Severus was on the verge of tripping over his words. As he spoke this time, he moved around the room to just behind Marley, who was trying her very hardest not to break down laughing.

"Yes?" She thought in a tone that was just asking for it.

Severus picked up her note book and hit her upside the head with it.

"10 points from Slytherin for being childish." Severus announced and went back to his lesson.

Marley silently giggled and took the rest of her notes in good spirits.

Really, Marley should have expected not to have gotten off so easily. As everyone was leaving, his voice appeared in her head, "Not so fast Ms. Anderson."

Everyone left without her and she walked up to his desk, where he sat quite disgruntled.

"Your foolish shenanigans will no longer be tolerated. It is distracting and inappropriate for you to be playing these childish mind games. You are in your last year here! You should not only know better, but already be better than this." He fixed her with another glare, "You will be serving detention with me all week. Be prompt."

He didn't even bother to dismiss her, he just turned his gaze to his papers that needed grading, or more red ink splashed across them to really tell the student their works were ones of failure.

With a sigh, Marley left his classroom and onto the wonderful world of Herbology.

Right after classes that day, Severus was preparing his lessons for the next day when a burning pain pulsed just above his wrist. It was a familiar sting and he needed not to check to see what it was.

He then stormed his way to the Headmasters Office, where he let himself in, not even bothering to knock.

Albus was sitting behind his large desk, gumming a Ton-Tongue Toffee and smiled when Severus entered, "Hello Severus."

"I'm being beckoned." The potions master didn't even bother with any other formality.

Albus's expression soured slightly and an audible crunch was made by his candy, "Very well, report to me as soon as you return."

Severus quickly went back to his chambers and apparated to Malfoy Manor – current headquarters for the Dark Lord and Death Eaters alike.

Pettigrew let Severus into the mansion. Severus avidly avoided touch Pettigrew. It was not as if he was about to give the rat a big hug, but even brushing arms against him would make Severus cringe…the gross imbecile.

With expert knowledge of the Mansion, the potions master turned down hallways before he reached a long table which sat a large portion of the Death Eater population and Voldemort.

"Severus." The Dark Lord nodded in a greeting.

"My lord." Severus sat himself down and nodded back.

Quickly, Severus scanned the crowd around the table. He had been to many meetings before and could tell who was here, who wasn't and who looked out of place.

Of course, of all the Death Eaters and loyal followers sitting at the table, Severus took special care in observing 7 of them in particular, aside from the Dark Lord.

The first was Walden MacNair. Severus was not well informed on his past, but what he did know about was the missions the Dark Lord sent him on. They were always mission that involved a great amount of torture, pain and death. In a battle of magic, Severus felt that MacNair was no match, but in a battle of strength…Needless to say, he wouldn't be letting his guard or his wand down around Walden.

Second was Lucius. Lucius was at the bottom of the Death Eater list. He and Draco had many failings in the Dark Lord's eyes and were often picked, humiliated and exemplified for it. Each one of those attributes was etched onto Malfoy's expression with dark circles under his eyes and thin, malnourished cheeks. Cautious, the potion master was around Lucius event though they were old allies, for he knew that would not stop Malfoy from gaining back favor, if Severus were to slip up and he caught it. Even though he was not in favor with the Dark Lord, it didn't stop him from being a mean son of a bitch to those who happened to be under him.

In a similar respect, Severus consistently wanted to know where the rat was. Peter Pettigrew was more than an ample snitch. The brown nose would anything to gain approval from Voldemort.

Bellatrix LeStrange wanted much more than to hear approval from Voldemort – she wanted to make him purr. Severus didn't think she was attractive at least, seeing as he didn't consider crazy a sexy quality, but the Dark Lord was willing to over look that. Between the sex, her avid need to annihilate mudbloods, her skill in performing all three of the unforgivable curses AND because she was absolutely out of her mind, Severus considered her armed and dangerous.

At this table the top three most grotesque were without a doubt the snake, the rat and the wolf. Fenrir Greyback was similar to MacNair in that he didn't need his wand to fuck you up. That and he needed no better reason to turn someone other than he liked to keep the size of his pack growing. In that respect, Severus decided he wouldn't make a good werewolf and therefore should keep a solid distance between the two of them.

The final person on his list was new. Jared Rembrandt. He had many skills of his own, which recently the Dark Lord found to be quite useful. His 5'9" stature and striking looks made him quite attractive and easily able to con anybody. With those abilities he's fidgeted in and out of many tight situations. Under his slicked back dark hair was a brain full of curses and spells and exactly how to use them – making him easily one of the smarter wizards here. Beyond all that he was a womanizing sadist. Once, Severus was forced to listen to Lucius and Rembrandt reflect on times they've had with female prisoners. Suffice to say it made Severus feel lucky to be a man.

The Dark Lord cleared his throat as the final member of Death Eaters walked in. His slits of eyes looked directly at 7 members at the table: Greyback, Malfoy, Bellatrix, Rembrandt, MacNair, Lucius and Severus. Of the few dozen Death Eaters present those 7 were in the inside circle – Lucius was teetering on the edge with all his disappointments. Together they made up the most lethal dark wizards in the world and the Dark Lord was certain that these 7 and himself mostly would bring victory.

"I have set a deadline. By Christmas, the world shall be under our control. I will not accept failure this time." His eyes darted around the table at those who had failed him most, "But to accomplish this I want a new plan. A fresh course of action as discussed at the last gathering. I want to hear the plans you've come up with." Voldemort said diplomatically.

Antonin Dolohov was the first to speak, "I think we should start from the bottom up; killing of those who are not important as to weaken those who are." He paused to assess Voldemort who seemed interested, "What makes the potter boy so strong? His followers. He has a whole mountain of people that would die for him. But if we make the mountain smaller, by picking off all the weaker ones, suddenly he's not so hard to overtake."

The Dark Lord took that in.

"If I may," Severus interjected, "That doesn't change the real issue. We've gotten to potter before and could do it again. But when you fight him, that's the issue. Potter has his advantages outside of just his followers and doesn't exactly get us anywhere other than focusing all our efforts in doing what we'd do with pleasure when we win." The potions master articulated.

"Yes." The Dark Lord said, "I agree."

Dolohov gave a glimmer of a death glare to Severus before focusing on the table before him.

"What is it then that you propose?" The Dark Lord asked in turn to his right hand Death Eater.

Severus raised both his eyebrows ever so slightly, "I feel that it is not wise to deviate away from the plan we already have. Of course a plan isn't going to seem like any good if stopped halfway."

It was a bold step to disagree with the Dark Lords motives, but Severus and Albus had spent countless nights discussing how to work with his death. It would set them back so to now have it all go to shit.

Voldemort didn't respond, but instead just peered into Severus's mind.

"My Lord," Rembrandt pried, after a bit of silence, "I did manage to stumble across something with merit."

The Dark Lord directed his focused attention upon the new Death Eater.

"Severus does have a point. I feel as if my plan could aid his thoughts. The biggest issue between you and Potter is the balance of power. Surely finding the Elder Wand cannot be the only way to out power him. What if we used the moons? It is clear that elemental magic is clearly the strongest, because of it's natural forces."

"Elemental magic is too potent. It has killed those trying to use it." Voldemort stated.

"Those who try and use it directly." Rembrandt countered, "Specifically, James Filment tried to use the sun to _directly_ boosted the strength of his magic. It fried him." Rembrandt began to get a childish gleam in his eye, "The moon doesn't create light on its own accord. Its light is a mere reflection of a portion of the sun's rays from the other side of the world. Meaning it has similar effects in how it can elementally boost your power, but its small dose means it ideally wouldn't hurt you." He sat back in his seat, satisfied with his idea.

There was silence after that as everyone took in the idea.

"Any remarks to this?" Voldemort asked.

No one spoke, not even Severus. He didn't know enough about this plan to disagree.

"Good then. We have a deadline and a plan." He looked around, "Dismissed."

The Dark Lord didn't get up however, he looked at Rembrandt, "By next gathering you are to have this plan be fully detailed in how to obtain such power."

Jared hesitated, "My Lord, what I've presented to you already is as much as _I _can get. You see, there is a restriction on such reading. But there are a few places which contain such material. All of which would take a very long time for me to get into." The Dark Lord looked cross and quickly Rembrandt kept talking, "But Hogwarts has quite an extensive library, which I'd expect to have ample resources on the elements. Easily accessible for a teacher."

Never would Severus betray the stomach dropping sensation he just had on his face, but all the same he felt it.

"Well then, Severus, that makes it your mission."


	6. Miserable at Best

Dearest Readers,

For those of you who hate Draco, you're just going to have to get over it because he's not going to be a jerk or a huge pussy in this book. I just thought you should know. I also realize by doing this I'm practically giving up my ability to call him a ferret, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

Also the song I use and consequently the name of the chapter is _Miserable at Best_ by Mayday Parade. I have no rights to this song and am merely using it as…well…read and you'll find out, now won't you.

Oh and while we're doing this, I also don't own any of the characters besides my own OCs and one would hope you can decipher the difference between the two.

Finally, thanks for the lovely reviews I got. They really do make me smile and encourage me to write.

Love,

Scarlett

Chapter 5

Ever since Katie signed Marley up to swoon Draco, it became one of Marley's main trains of thought. She'd never not used words to hook a guy. But in all actually, the biggest part of flirting was physical. It was all about the way you sat, looked, swished your hair and smiled.

Marley was absent mindedly gnawing on a baby carrot at lunch, while Bernard purred on her lap as she thought about this. Take Bernard for example. He couldn't talk, but she loved him dearly. She wasn't about to go sit on Draco's lap and purr.

But she could get damn well close.

The witch sipped her orange juice and looked down the table at Draco.

The pureblood wizard was eating a sandwich and seemed to be only half-listening to Pansy talk about something or another. Next to him sat Crabbe, but on his other side was a rather pregnant gap between him and the next student where Goyle usually sits.

_"Really"_ Marley thought, _"If I wanted to do this thing, now seems like a pretty opportune time."_

With that she brushed Bernard off her lap, shook up her curls and sauntered over to where Draco sat and took Goyle's seat.

Instantly, Draco recognized her sudden appearance and his attention broke away from Pansy's conversation (about two headed horses…?) and stared at Marley warily.

He didn't do anything, but look at her with something like a curious sneer on his face.

The witch gave a radiant smile and a little wave.

"Hello." Draco responded maintaining an arched eyebrow.

Thinking on her toes, Marley gave Draco's silk tie a little tug.

Quickly, he looked down at his neckwear and then back at her, "You like my tie?"

She nodded.

Draco gave her a half grin, "Me too."

Marley just looked at him with a happy expression on her face, waiting for him to make conversation. Sure enough, after a minute, "So, unfortunate what happened to you, not being able to talk." Draco stated.

Marley nodded and rolled her eyes, in a way that said: You have no idea.

"So it must be rough then?" He gathered, not waiting for a further response, "I suppose it's one of those thing we take for granted, talking, personally I couldn't live with out it."

The witch gave a look of agreement.

Slowly Draco caught on that he would be the one doing all the talking, "I use it all the time you know; to show Crabbe and Goyle how to do things, talk to my father…" He trailed off there, his face fell slightly.

It was big new when his father went to Azkaban; no doubt it makes him sad. Briefly Marley envisioned her own father; sitting in his favorite leather chair, smoking a cigar and reading. It made her heart ache, but she pushed away the memory and pursued the conversation at hand.

She didn't want him sad so she moved the exchange along. She pointed to Crabbe with a confused expression.

Draco looked at Crabbe, "Crabbe? Goyle?" A nod from Marley, "Oh, he got a stomach ache last night and decided not to come to classes today." Draco smiled, "I'll tell you what, if those two bears didn't have a mouth to eat with, I don't know what they'd do with themselves." Crabbe was busy in the gossip further down the table and oblivious to Draco's comment.

The speechless witch shrugged and then pointed to her stomach.

"You're not fat." Draco responded almost instantly.

Taken a back a bit Marley shook her head and hands in a gesture implying "No, no no!" Then she pointed to herself and then pretended to be stuffing her face with invisible clumps of food.

Draco chuckled lightly at her actions, "Oh you eat a lot?" Marley confirmed, "I doubt you eat nearly as much as them. It's atrocious really."

Marley mouthed "I don't know" and grinned, before tossing back her curls.

It was then that everyone got up to go to class. Marley decided then, that since Greg wasn't going to be around today that she would take his place and try and warm up to Draco.

Between then and dinner, Marley rediscovered how much Draco loves to talk. During Divination, Draco completely ignored Professor Trelawney and informed Marley on everything there is to know about Slytherin quidditch. Then in Care of Magical Creatures he told her about the library of curses and hexes they had at his house. Informing the witch that in his free time there he would study up on them; she gathered he felt pretty tough from that. He didn't talk much in potions, which was okay because Marley was having fun playing mind games with Snape. Or shall she say Severus.

"_If I called you Severus from now on, who would really know?"_ she asked as they were all supposed to be writing an essay, _"The way I see it, there's no proof. It's he-said-she-said."_ Marley gave a little grin of satisfaction.

The professor didn't really say anything to that at first, but then he lifted his gaze to her smug expression. _"It's not really he-said-she-said since __**she**__ can't say anything at all." _A ghost of smile passed his lips.

Marley was a bit taken aback that he responded at all, but more so she didn't know what to respond with, _"Right then – Severus." _

"5 points from Slytherin for being off task." The potions master declared, _"Ms. Anderson, I will not tolerate taking anymore points from my house for your behavior. Your detention this afternoon will be double its original value."_

"_Shit."_ Marley thought, without a care what her personal Mindfuck thought.

Toward the end of Transfigurations Draco slid a piece of paper towards Marley with his neat hand writing at the top:

Want to hang out after class?

The witch sighed and responded:

Maybe tomorrow. I have double detention with our favorite Head of House.

Draco:

What did you do?

With a sigh, Marley:

It's a long and definitely weird story.

The wizard pulled one cheek up in a grin:

Well, I suppose I can wait until tomorrow

if it means you'll tell me the long and definitely weird story.

The witch looked flirtatiously at Draco and flashed a toothy smile.

The dungeons were dark, cold and empty after class for Marley's detention. It took a moment for Marley to gather up the courage to knock. Toying with Severus in (their?) mind was simple and relatively harmless. But here in detention, he had complete control.

But alas she did knock and deep growl beckoned her inside.

"Ms. Anderson, your task for today is simple. Scrub the cauldrons until the shine." He was standing in the doorway of his ingredients cupboards and spoke in his usual succinct manner, "There's a brush and some gloves on the tables."

With acquiesce, Marley put on some thick yellow gloves – in a most exaggerated method by pulling on the rubber and snapping it back loudly. With her brush in hand she chipped away the regular abuse the cauldrons suffered.

The room was taciturn after that. Even their minds were silent except for Marley's diligent mental profanities at the unyielding hard to reach spots. After about 20 minutes or so a gentle piano music echoed in Severus's mind. It was relatively hushed. However, curiosity caused Severus to pursue the music, to find it was coming from Marley.

He supposed it was because she wasn't directing the thought to him that it was quieter, but still he chased after the noise. It was a solemn man singing.

"Katie don't cry, I know, you're trying your hardest,

And the hardest part is letting go of the nights we shared.

Oh Cali is calling and you know it's haunting

But compared to your eyes, nothing shines quite as bright."

Of course the immediate thought on his mind was Lily. It reminded him of the night he said those awful words to her; a clear image of her hurt Emerald eyes glittering with tears and frustration glared back at him. Guilt carved into his gut. Desperately he listened for more.

"Let's not pretend like you're alone tonight,

I know he's there and you're probably hanging out and making eyes,

While across the room he stares,

I bet he gets the nerve to walk the floor and ask my girl to dance,

She'll say yes"

Each and every word of this song synced up with he's own repertoire of bad memories. The dance following that, the one he practiced so hard for so that he wouldn't have an excuse not to ask her to dance, so that she wouldn't laugh at him – even though he knew she wouldn't have before. But instead from the corners of the great hall he sulked with his new crowd of friends and watched as Potter and Lily danced the night away. Severus could feel his heart breaking all over again.

"I guess that I can live without you,

But without you I'll be miserable at best…"

Lily. Oh Lily. Severus was drowning in his own memories. Memories of her smile, of her laugh, of those gorgeous eyes. Horrid parts of his cognizance reminding the Potions Master of Potter whisking her away with his, what Severus is told, devilish charm and dashing smile. Together they got married and started a family.

She deserved a nice fairytale story like that, if only it was with someone who truly loved her. But he deserved the fate he got too. For losing his temper so fast, for saying those things, for taking the mark, for killing those people, for…

The list went on his expression soured and he knew he couldn't go on like this. Not until he could be safely back in his quarters with a full bottle of tequila to properly bury these memories.

"Stop." Severus said aloud, but his voice did falter, "Stop thinking about that wretched song." His voice stronger and pissier.

Marley, who was surprised by this outburst looked up and the piano music stopped abruptly. Instead of being smug, like she normally was toward him, she looked concerned and studied his face.

With a brusque motion, Severus shielded his bereaved feelings going back to his work. Severus couldn't help, but to hear her own thoughts.

They were simple thoughts, but the charge behind those words were sincere, _"Oh Merlin! Is he okay? What happened?"_

Severus didn't have the care to realize she wasn't judging or taunting him in that statement, instead what he understood was that he had unwillingly exposed a secret part of himself to a student; he was weak for not keeping his defenses up.

**A/N:** Sorry it's a short chapter; I had to cut it down a bit. Review, review, review! Please?


	7. Come On Eileen

Dearest Readers,

So that was a long break wasn't it? Sorry, for some reason two weeks passed in a blink of an eye and completely forgot to update – my bad!

I don't own the characters except for the OCs etc…etc…

Also I used two songs in this chapter. The first is Misery Business by Paramore. It's in the story – just trust me. Then I used Come On Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners. They are obviously not mine and I claim no ownership.

Have a lovely read!

Love,

Scarlett

The Right of Wrong Doings

Chapter 6

Detention with Snape was odd to say the least, so many questions formed in her mind. It was entirely unnecessary for him to yell at her like that and for thinking about a song? Marley literally rolled her eyes. While she was concerned for his sudden outburst, she was more pissed at his demand, "He may have some sort of Jedi mind powers where he can will himself not to think about something, but I don't and it's just preposterous to expect otherwise of me." As she turned around the last corner to the Slytherin Commons, Marley's thoughts came to a halt as she came across her enemy once more. The door.

She furrowed her eyebrows and took a deep breath, determined to succeed. Standing up straight, shoulders back, chin up and relaxed finger tips she thought with purpose, "Pureblood." The words were spoken with the elegant, but cool voice she'd say when casting a spell.

The wall was still for a moment, but then shuddered and opened into the Slytherin commons. The witch couldn't help, but give a sly smile of victory, "One little step at a time." She thought and went inside.

She was exhausted and still had homework to do, so she went up to her room, showered and changed into her PJ's before setting out to do her homework.

It took about 3 hours, but finally her work was completed and Marley was able to go to sleep after a long tiring day.

The smell of eggs frying in a pan filled the air in the dingy kitchen. It was dark and stained, but clean. There was no familiar knick-knacks or pictures. It was plain room with plain furniture and plain people. A tiny woman in a conservative black dress stood at the stove, poking and prodding at what smelled and sounded like breakfast. She turned and looked over at another part of the counter where there was a cauldron brewing.

It is undeniable that she was pretty. Not in the model sort of way, but she had a subtle grace about her. Shoulder length black hair was straight and brushed with hazel eyes that were as much deep, as they were wise. She offered a smile that attempted to be warm before going to the cauldron and stirred it.

The second time she turned to go back to her original position at the stove, more could be seen of her. The woman was painfully skinny, to the point where her face was thin and hollow. Her skin was pale as if she never saw the light of day, but some how it was known that underneath that dress of hers, there were bruises. Some yellow, some purple and some that were still lightly swollen.

She looked behind her and spoke. While her words were inaudible, it was clear that her voice was soft and shy. There was a nod up and down in response to her question that jolted the room 1, 2, 3 times.

The next time she turned around was to bring a plate of eggs and bacon to the table. It looked good, the only good thing in the room probably. She smiled and watched her food being eaten. Gently, the mother reached out and stroked the dark hair of her child. "Eat up." She cooed.

SLAM!

Something from outside struck fear into the mother and child as they both looked out the window to something unseen. She turned to the child and shouted frantic orders that were inaudible, but definitely scared.

Marley was jolted up and looked out the window next to her bed to see what was so scary, but the only thing she saw was the sun creeping beyond the horizon.

Bernard dug his claws into her bed, clearly annoyed to be shoved awake in her haste. He spun in a circle and curled back up to an uncomfortable position behind her knee.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" The witch thought, relaxing back into her pillow.

It wasn't her family by far, but that mother held something familiar to her. Something she wasn't going to get back. Her heart sank with memories as she suppressed the urge to cry. Today was not starting off well at all.

In the Great Hall, followed by her fat cat, Marley walked right by her usual spot with Katie and Damien, to where Draco was motioning her to a spot next to him. Katie was very pleased to see this though and didn't do a thing to stop her.

"Good morning!" He greeted.

She smiled in response before pouring some Pumpkin Juice, but that was all since she wasn't really in the mood to eat the eggs and bacon, despite the grumbling of her stomach.

Draco watched her until her gaze met his once more, "I was thinking." He began and crunched down on a strip of fried pig meat, "My friend Theo and I are throwing a pre-game party for Slytherin. You know, as a way to start of the Quidditch season with a bang. Anyway, I don't know what your plans are for Friday night, but I would appreciate you considering coming to the party with me."

"That was fast." Marley thought, but grinned and nodded at Draco before mouthing, "Yes!" as adamantly as possible.

"Excellent." Draco scooped some eggs into his mouth.

Marley decided that there wasn't really an elegant way to eat and that this was possibly the only thing Draco did that didn't represented years worth of Malfoy tutoring, as she observed in mild repulsion.

Gently, she nudged his shoulder and pointed towards Katie and Damien who were chatting where they usually sat, probably about Draco and Marley.

"Your friends?" He asked, trying to put together what she was saying.

She mouthed, "Party."

"Oh! You want them to come to the party? Sure!" Malfoy gave a little chuckle, "In fact, Theo's been wanting to talk to Katie for a while now; he seems to have a fancy for her."

Marley snickered, silently of course.

After Breakfast, Marley spent all of Divination's that morning, sending Katie notes explaining how she was officially invited to the party on Saturday and how Theo would be there, waiting for her to flirt with him. She was pleased read all of the notes and was positively glowing by Lunch.

During Lunch, Marley once again sat with Draco, who seemed to quite enjoy having her around to be his personal diary. He talked about everything and anything with her. Really, she stopped listening, but every now and again would smile at him.

Once again, her favorite time of day – Potion's came around. Marley walked into class and spotted Severus behind his desk, paying no attention to his students who were filing in one by one.

She sat down at her desk and observed the essay prompt that was on the board, "In explicit detail explain how to obtain all the ingredients necessary to make Veritaserum. One foot, due at the end of class."

Marley sighed, not wanting to do this essay. Weary and still thinking about her dream, the witch was in no mood to write this damned essay, but she set quill and ink to scroll and began.

20 minutes had passed in the silent classroom when a thought registered in her mind, "Not going to pester me today are you?" Severus asked.

The witch didn't bother to look up, but simply sighed, "I'm no mood for you today, Severus."

"Pity." He thought sarcastically, but a foul sleep had left him bitter today. In Severus's mind, what better way to take out his irritability then on his students?

She caved and looked up, "What? Were you looking forward to some sort of mind duel today?"

Their eyes met and neither pair looked kind. Bitter animosity writhed inside their minds. Severus carefully searched for the words to say, "No, it would have satisfied me to see you try to duel me though…"

"Well aren't you cocky?" Marley thought, before she could think.

Her mannerism caused an involuntary cheek muscle to flex.

Seeing his glimmer of a smile incited curiosity in her mind, but she returned to her work, "Detention tonight?"

"To my great dismay."

To his dismay indeed, Marley showed up promptly for her detention. Certainly not because she was excited to be in a single room with the bitter man, but because Draco was waiting up for Marley tonight so that she may write him a lovely paper explaining that she and her beloved head of house were connected via rings and minds.

"Ms. Anderson." Severus greeted upon the knock of the door.

"Severus."

He rolled his eyes and motioned behind him to a bucket and a sponge on the floor, "I will require your wand, for this is a purely manual task and I will not be here for the beginning to observe that you don't cheat."

Marley pulled her wand out of her sleeve and handed it to the professor, "Wouldn't want that now would we?" Her thoughts were sardonic and her head swished back and forth slightly to reinforce her attitude.

"A tongue like that will land you here another day, Ms. Anderson." The potion's master's words were harsh and critical. His day had turned out to be worse than expected - disobedient students galore, "Your instructions are simple so that you can understand them: scrub the floors until they shine." He gave a stern look, "I will come back to dismiss you, therefore you must stay here and wait even if you feel as if you are done."

With that he left with a swish of his cloak.

Never would she admit it, but she admired his style. It takes a lot of effort to be mean as balls all the time, striking fear into students and having a confident entrance, exit and speech. Really, it does. It didn't make her more tolerant of him, that would be too easy, but she did appreciate it.

Down on the floor Marley went. Really, these stone floors were filthy. She could scrub one large stone; go to another, then when she got back the first would seem to be dirty again. Really it was a never ending job. Her knees began to ache, but she was determined not to seem weak. Not to her professor anyway.

It was a new game, she supposed, if she was the only one in the school to be able to get into his mind, then she was going to do something with that ability. However, she couldn't be weak and accomplish that. So each day she would suck it up and persevere to ultimately show him that he can't just be a dick. Not all the time anyway. Not when he needs to be making his students stronger instead of teaching them how to cave faster, not with this war in the midst of everything.

Severus was gone for a while and it left her mind free to think anything she wanted. So she freely thought about her dream and how it related to her life. Then she thought about the life she'd lost. Those lives she'd single-handedly ruined…

Quickly she did away with those notions. It served her no good to reflect on that – not here anyway. Then she thought about Draco.

"He's a good guy – I guess." Marley thought. But it was absolutely shameful that she was making him feel like she adored him, when really she didn't. Not to say that she wasn't becoming friends with him, that much was true. But the flirting and the geeky smiles, it wasn't real. Besides that, she was just getting over Ryan more or less… "I'm a whore, is what I am." The witch decided, digging her sponge into a tough in-between crack.

But a smile flashed across her face, "Once a whore, you're nothing more. Sorry honey, but that will never change!" The lyrics passed easily in her mind and soon she was going on a whole Paramore tangent. The songs ebbed and flowed until she was jamming out to the 80s.

"Come on Eileen! I swear…" Severus heard it a long corridor away from his classroom before he could fully distinguish where it came from, "at this moment, you mean everything."

He was outside his door and understood it was Marley once again up to her tom foolery with the song-thinking. But he didn't stop her then, he wanted to scare her – it would satisfy him to see that on her face.

"With you in that dress – I confess" The music and back ground music was fully in his mind and it was just like listening to play in a band instead of her singing it.

He slowly opened the door and saw her on the floor several yards in front of him, but not facing him. On a table near him, her robes were cast aside, leaving her in a skirt and white button up shirt. From a distance he could see she had partially unbuttoned that too and rolled up the sleeves so she could work better. However, the awkward contorting of the shirt had caused it to pull up part of her back and he could see the smooth curve of her waist. . Her skirt was pushed up high – not so high that it was vulgar, but he could see her well formed legs as well.

That was not even the worst part, she moved along with the beat. Swishing her hips this way and that was quite – from a distance it was – his imagination was just going crazy.

"Verge on dirty, ah come on Eileen." The singer gasped.

The appropriate thing to do would be to yell at her and stop this behavior, but there was something quite attractive about her. Never before had he ever went out of line like this and normally he would be mentally scolding himself, but there were other thoughts on his mind which simply over powered the killjoys – for example the wonderful shape of her arse.

He watched for a while, not even paying attention to the song, but the chorus came back around and it stuck out to him.

"Oh come on Eileen…oh I swear (what he means)…Ah come on…Let's take off everything-" The singer moaned.

"Well that's quite the notion isn't it?" Severus thought – making sure that Marley wouldn't hear it.

The music persisted, "Pretty red dress…(Eileen tell him yes)" the singer paused and breathed, "Come on Eileen … ah come on let's…"

It was as if the singer was fucking the girl right there in the song! If you listen to the words anyway…But Severus stopped himself there. That was a dangerous place to go! And she was a student!

"Ms. Anderson, you will stop that at this moment!" He scolded her out loud and billowed his way to his desk – slamming the still partially open door behind him.

From the corner of his eye, he saw her practically jump up in her spot, not expecting him to be there.

She slammed the sponge in the bucket with a large splash, "Damn you!" the witch shouted in his mind, "That is utterly unnecessary! I may deserve to be in detention, but your bull shit with this creeping around and scaring me business…" Marley collected herself, not really sure what she wanted to say, "It's just bloody unnecessary."

The potions master had turned to face her upon her outburst and was met with blazing blue eyes and wild curls that were unmistakably pissed.

Dark charcoal eyes glared at her, he was not about to be told off by a student, "I will decide what is and isn't necessary."

"No, you won't. Especially if this is going to be a growing trend with you – disrupting my peaceful punishment with your outbursts! Honestly, any other teacher in the world would be happy with me just doing what I'm told and silently! But no – that's not good enough for you is it?" She may not have been able to speak, but with every word she thought she moved her lips with as well. It was almost as if she was actually yelling at him.

He took a step back towards her so that his shadow loomed over her in the candle light, "If you don't like it, I'd be glad to take it up with the Headmaster. Not being obedient during class or detention."

Marley made a laughing motion, "Ha! I'm sure he'll find it humorous that you're upset with the consequences of your actions!"

Severus didn't respond, he just scowled at her in a way that scared Marley to her core, even if she wasn't about to show it.

"Because you walk around with a huge bravado – like you're tough shit – you scared Neville so badly that he accidentally knocked over a potion that took away my voice! But now that you're stuck with being the only person who can hear my raw thoughts, you're unhappy! You know what? That's karma! How does it feel?" She stood up and raised her eyebrows to him, so she could really stick it to him.

The potions master couldn't respond. What was there to say? She was right and he knew it, "Perhaps if you had been able to hold your tongue while you still had it," He alluded to her making fun of him with Neville the day of the accident, "you wouldn't have lost your privileges in the first place."

The witch couldn't believe what she was hearing and her face matched that thought accordingly, "You are absolutely incorrigible!"

With that she stalked out of the room.


	8. Chapter 7

Dearest Readers,

I hope that little bit back then will tie you over until the next time sexual innuendos will come about once more!

I don't own any of the characters except the OCs!

Love,

Scarlett

The Right of Wrong Doings

Chapter 7

The witch was fuming, to say the least. How does one deal with such an intolerable man? The door was no match for her today. All the emotion she had in her could have blasted the door open, let alone demand it to do so.

In the Slytherin Common room, Draco was on a couch fast asleep. A book was in his one hand while a careless few strands escaped his well-sculpted blond head, so that they dangled in front of his eyes.

Upon seeing him, Marley only felt worse. Usually she could overcome those emotions to be happy while she was around him, but now on top of everything else she just couldn't.

So to ease her mind and temperament, she crept up the stairs to the girls wing, took a shower and changed into some lovely flannel pajama bottoms and a tang top (with of course a bra).

Draco's position had not changed when she returned. Not really sure what to do, Marley stood their awkwardly watching him. Finally after, but a few minutes of deliberation, the witch carefully sat down on the couch next to him and slowly leaned on him while curling her legs up next to her. After she was settled, the witch nuzzled her head into his shoulder, but kept her eyes closed.

With a bit of jolt – Draco woke up and looked over at his companion, who by his judgment was already asleep. He eyed her, not sure what to make of the situation, but then pulled his arm out from beneath her head and instead wrapped it around her shoulders so she could be more comfortable.

Really this did beat having to awkwardly explain everything like she was supposed to, Marley admitted. But that gnawing feeling in her gut directed her otherwise. No longer was that feeling distinguishable by anything other than "it", because the individual pains were blended together too well. All the guilt, sadness, anger and loathing didn't leave her stomach again until she was asleep once more.

A room just down the hallway offered the false truth that safety and comfort was there, but that didn't slow the rushing up rickety stairs to obtain that warm comfort. It was still a small room with but a single window, a single closet, a single bed and a single toy. In the closet with the door closed seemed to be only eligible place to hide.

The bang of the sturdy door downstairs dashed the hope that Merlin had already struck down that wretched man.

"What is that? I leave you alone for a few hours and already you defy my will!" roared the deep voice of a man, just below the floor boards.

The response to his question, was either to quiet to be heard or non-existent.

"Damn you woman!" Crack!

No amount of wincing could make that horrid sound or awful impact go away.

This time sobs were heard in response, "Please! Think about -"

There was a growl, of what can be assumed a belittling remark.

Stomps, 1,2,3,4 – count was lost, but the stairs squealed as a hefty person stomped up them. Down the hallway they came, closer and closer. They slowed though and became quiet, but still heard as they shuffled ever nearer.

From beneath the door crack, the sounds synced up with the movement of two very large, muddy boots drawing ever nearer - until they stopped, just outside the thin closet door.

The door was flung open and there stood a tall man of a stature assumed to be about 6 and a half feet leering down at the little figure which had scrunched up into the deepest corner, in attempts to not be discovered.

His face was gnarled, but manly. Red neck and cheeks were tell-tale signs of a drunken bastard, while a sneer of his crooked face and nose allowed made it clear that he was more than just a drunk – he was a mean drunken bastard.

"You." Was all he said, but the words terrifying and sent cold chills through the shadowed corner-child.

When Severus awoke, he was at his desk. Really it hadn't felt like he had drifted off, but a piece of paper with dried drool was attached to his face was a sign that - yes he had. With a groan he sat himself up and stretched, he felt more exhausted than he had before he fell asleep, but that wasn't a surprise though. It had been a very long while that any sort of slumber had left him refreshed. Usually sleep was something he avoided and came only when his body demanded it of him.

On his desk, was a large stack of books that he had brought back with him from the library after Ms. Anderson's little episode. They had all shared one commonality – the moon. The potion's master was not certain when the Dark Lord would be calling for him once more, but one thing he wouldn't do was be caught off guard.

He had skimmed through two already – not finding anything of what he wanted, but hints of what Rembrandt was suggesting were apparent.

Already, Severus had spoken with Albus, who himself was only mildly aware that power could be drawn from the moon. It is certain that he didn't know where to find the answers, but he reaffirmed what Severus suspected the Headmaster would suggest.

"You need to find all you can about drawing power from the moon. Find the holes in the idea, create holes– whatever must be done to make him stick to the original plan." The old man looked sternly at Severus from across his desk, "If he really does intend on being victorious by Christmas, we don't have enough time to think of another counter plan…"

Looking over at the clock, which read 2:36 (presumably A.M.), Severus determined that he had a couple hours more to read before getting ready for the day…

Thankfully for Marley and Draco, the sound some girl shrieking in the girls dormitory had woken them up, before anyone could see them – or worse hex them.

"Great talk then?" Draco stretched as he stood up, looking over at Marley.

She smiled and nodded – resenting that that was the only thing she could do – before going upstairs to change into her uniform and putting on make up. On her way to breakfast, without Bernard who had seemed to have taken off again to do whatever it is he does, Marley was flagged down by Katie.

"Ugh, these detentions with Snape are really getting in the way of you and me time! I've been dying to talk to you about the party." The curly haired witch was not quite awake yet, but didn't stop Katie from talking, "Okay, so I was thinking that today is Thursday. Tonight you're going to have to come over to my room and help me pick what outfit to wear!" Plenty of times before Marley had been to the Gryffindor commons. She had lots of friends within the house and was only mildly disapproved of in the beginning, but now that it was seventh year and usually she was only going up to Katie's room to do one thing or another, no one objected.

They turned the corner to the hallway of the Great Hall, "I was thinking about that blue dress I have…but I'm afraid it's too childish. What are you wearing?" Katie looked at Marley for advice.

The witch tried to mouth the words "Jeans." But Katie was too impatient to deal with her friend's impediment.

"Never mind," She digressed, "I wish that we had another week to prepare – a weekend where we could go shopping too." The country drawl had fixated on her whining towards the end, "Oh you know what? You should do my hair in big curls like for the Yule ball a few years back…"

Marley's attention was diverted from Katie, not like her friend noticed, as the Evil Bastard of the Dungeon turned the corner opposing them, walking right towards the Great Hall. The first thing the witch noticed was, "Wow – he looks like shit."

Of course he heard this thought, even though it wasn't meant for him to hear, and met her eyes with a glare, before turning into the Great Hall with a great swish.

"…I don't want to like give all my great aspects away at our first _real_ meeting though. The decisions to make!" Katie looked back at Marley, "You are so lucky I can handle all the pressure."

"What are you going on about now?" Damien was clearly not a morning person. He was already seated and waiting for Katie, but when he spotted Marley he cocked an eyebrow and gave a teasing smile, "Oh – decided to join us did you?"

Katie's hair bobbed toward Marley, "What are you doing? You have to go sit with Draco!"

The mute witch gave a little smile, but was a little hurt. Katie didn't take back what she said and waited for her friend to react. Marley turned on her heel and walked over to where Draco was sitting.

This morning, he seemed extra exuberant, "Good Morning." Polite Malfoy manners kicking in.

She nodded and returned his grin.

"Draco!" Pansy scolded, "You're interrupting my story!"

Malfoy rolled his eyes and continued.

"Yeah mate, whatever where you thinking?" Theodore Nott said teasingly, mocking Pansy.

This week he hadn't been sitting with Draco, but instead down the row closer to some of his other friends. Every now and again he'd switch spots, just so he didn't lose contact with a whole group of friends. He was social like that.

Theo was a tall, lean, but muscular Slytherin. Jet black hair was either styled or neglected enough to stick up straight above his head. It gave him that sort of I'm-cool-because-my-hair-looks-good-even-though-I-just-woke-up-maybe-I-tried-but-probably-not appearance. That and his cocky carefree white smile made him very approachable.

"And who are you?" His voice asked, taking a casual bite of toast.

Draco stepped in, "This is Marley – the one who lost her voice…"

Theodore reacted radically, dropping his hands on the table causing the dishes around him to clatter, hunching his back and making a really bummed face, "That BLOWS!"

The witch silently laughed at him, for the first time feeling better about her whole situation. She quickly looked around to see the people around them getting over the sudden reaction. Even at the teachers table McGonagall was shooting them a disapproving look, Dumbledore had a little twinkle in his eye and really she didn't give a damn about what Professor Snape thought.

Apparently, Nott didn't care what other people thought and kept eye contact with her. He straightened up again and went back to his breakfast, "To make it up to you, why don't you come to the party Draco and I are throwing? It's tomorrow night."

"One step ahead of you there," Malfoy cut in, "She's already agreed to come AND she's bringing her blonde Gryffindor friend." Draco waggled his eyebrows in some sort of secret message to Theo.

Theo smiled brightly, but it seemed not what Marley expected, like he was a little disappointed, "Great! It'll be fun." He looked back at the witch, "We'll have a good time."

She smiled politely, but the situation was off somehow.

"…and there's always Quidditch to account for…" Pansy said to another girl next to her, but Draco heard the magic word and instantly he was in.

"There IS always Quidditch to account for!" The conversation started about the upcoming season and how Slytherin was certain to crush the Gryffindors this year.

Friday night came faster than expected. Maybe the exhaustion of sleeping funny recently or simply the haze of activity blended the days together. But after classes that day, Katie dragged Marley off to her room to get ready together.

"Now I think this dress would totally show off my boobs." Katie held up a tight ruffled turquoise dress that went down to her mid thigh.

"The non-existent ones?" Marley thought, even in her head it sounded playful.

Katie quickly slipped it on and did a little cat walk in the room. Most of the girls were already out of the room, Gryffindors weren't really invited to the party, Katie being an exception, "Marley, I really wish you'd put on a dress, this isn't some country hick hoe-down."

The only response she gave was a sigh and a roll of her blue eyes. All Marley could think was, "How the hell would you know, you've never been to one of these damn things. Where as I've been there plenty of times." But she stifled her thoughts and sat Katie down in front of her where she charmed the short strands of her hair to curl. It was a very, very simple charm and after lots of practice the night before, Marley could easily do it now.

Katie continuously talked during the rest of the getting ready process. About her dress, about Theodore, about how she disapproved of Marley's dress, questioning which eye shadow to use, Theodore, insisting that Marley straighten her hair, Theo, Theo, Theo...the usual.

By the time they were both done it looked like they were going to two different parties. Katie had on a light blue club dress with ruffles and silver heels and had done her hair especially for the night. Where as Marley had on her tight dark jeans, a tight over-the-shoulder, black, long-sleeved shirt with rips in the sleeves and comfortable black heels. In comparison she was very low key.

As aforementioned, Marley was no stranger to these parties. She had been to many when she was having this fling with a Ravenclaw boy. They were always held in the back end of Hogsmeade. The best ones were held in an abandoned bar. It looked like any other shop – on top. But if you walked through the women's loo, it took you to a set of stairs that lead to a magically sound-proofed room. The downstairs didn't look much better than the top. The run down squeaky floor boards, wall paper that was stained and ripped and broken furnishings. The two qualities this room had that made it so great was the stage for bands or DJs and a bar.

With some creativity and a touch of magic, stereos were transfigured, strobe lights flashing, a full stock of liquor and snacks. Other than that all that was needed was people.

Tonight there was a full house. Clearly all the Slytherins were in attendance. Lee Jordan was specially invited to be the DJ and a blow-up doll was charmed to be the bartender.

When the duo walked down the stairs, Marley instantly saw Draco sitting at the bar sipping a drink from a green plastic cup. When he realized that she was there, he looked her over with a grin.

"Hey." He greeted over top the rap music. Rap wasn't really Marley's style, but she listened to just about anything and could adjust.

She gave a little wave.

Draco gave a quick look at Katie, "Do you guys want a drink." Gesturing to the blow-up doll.

In Marley's experience, guys who were nervous felt better when she drank. Even though she didn't think he was feeling that way, she wanted to ease his mind, but shook her head despite herself and nodded towards the dance floor where there was already a huge crowd of dancers.

Katie smiled at her friend before walking towards the crowd herself, where she had already spotted Theo.

Her date wasn't even paying attention to Katie and grabbed Marley's hand and guided her to the center of the grinding. The rhythm of the bass set the pace of the crowd. It started with Wheezy, before transitioning to the Black Eyed Peas, then Kesha, Bouncing Souls, 3OH!3 and so on. It was clear that Draco was enjoying himself by his facial expression and the way his hands caressed her sides. As the night progressed, so did the mood. The songs became more sexual than before and the space between Draco and Marley shrunk.

Before long, Malfoy was right up behind her with his hands on her hips pushing against her. It was only the natural presumptuous reaction and Marley couldn't blame him for wanting more, but the romantic mood he was trying to give her was only souring her own. Mind racing she reflected further back to the summer and her stomach turned.

"Why?" She could hear Ryan say.

"It's for Katie!" Marley mentally defended. It was too late and she knew it.

No longer could she take it and pushed herself away from Draco and towards the bar, "I'm sorry!" she wanted to say, but her lips could only form the words. One would think she was apologizing to Draco, but in fact it was to Ryan.

It only took the space from the floor to the bar for her to realize how ridiculous she was being. Ryan wasn't here, he wouldn't and won't be. The witch regrouped and forced her tears back. There was a beer on the bar and she chugged half of it. Letting the alcohol settle within her.

"Hey!" Draco said catching up to her, a little concerned. Clearly she wasn't able to hide her distress, "Are you okay?"

She forced a smile and shook the plastic cup in her hand.

"You were thirsty?" he confirmed. Grinning warily he ordered another drink for the both of them. Thankfully whatever it was had vodka in it and was gloriously stronger, "Yeah, I worked up a thirst too."

Instead of knocking back the beverage she moved the ice around with the little stirrer that came with it.

"Looks like your friend is getting along with Theo, eh?" Draco observed from his seat at Katie and Theo flirting at the other end of the bar.

Marley gave a silent giggled, watching the two as well. That's when her eye caught something. They were in the corner of the room, the Weasley twins.

It was odd that they were here since they were on the Gryffindor team, let alone in Gryffindor in general and they were at a Slytherin Quidditch party. For clarification, Marley pointed to the corner while looking at Draco.

"Oh." His words were flat, "Yeah. Well, we've started to automatically invite the twins for their services."

The witch stared at Fred – or maybe George – as he showed a fifth year a bag of weed.

"Some find that it helps them party-" Malfoy continued, "But I don't see how you can party when heroine is pounding through your blood." Marley followed his shifted gaze towards a back room, near where the twins were. She could see about a half-dozen students slumped on the floor, eyes glazed over.

As she sat there sipping on her drink she thought about what the attraction to such a drug was. It was like they were dead, but breathing.

"Not to say I've never tried pot or anything, but it stops there." Draco finished, "To be out of control and defenseless like that…is more than stupid – it's dangerous."

"Yes." George Weasley – maybe – said. He had seen the couple watching and strolled over to refill his cup, but mostly to stick it to Draco, "You never know when the Death Eaters are going to swoop down and kill you." He chuckled. The comment was towards Marley, but the next wasn't, "Or do you?"

It was clear that there was a lot of animosity between Draco and George, not like Marley hadn't already known that.

Malfoy stiffened, but didn't respond.

"Besides, it's worth the feeling it gives. It's nothing you've ever experienced." George directed the conversation to the witch once more.

"Come on," Draco stood up and placed his hand on Marley's shoulder, "Let's go some where less – dirty."

It is a proper time to explain that Marley is for the light in this war. She herself wasn't a mud blood, but her mother was. Therefore, she was taught from a young age that the value of someone should be judged by their actions and not their color, sexuality or ancestry.

Never would she allow someone to tell her any different, but in such a controversial time…the witch needed to pick her battles.

Together they walked just outside the stairs where there was the whole upstairs was quiet. Draco pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered on to his date, who took one, before getting one himself. With a muttered incendio, he lit both of their cigs.

Deeply he inhaled his Marlboro, "Bitch." He muttered. Not to her of course, but he was infuriated with the whole situation.

Marley looked through her own smoke to him.

The blonde wizard warily returned her gaze, as if trying to decide something, "People just-" he carefully thought about what he wanted to say, "There are people, like the Weasley's, who think they know everything. So they say things that, out of sheer frustration, piss me off." Another puff of nicotine, "they live through a one way mirror and then speak like jackasses; it's infuriating that I can't and _won't_ correct them."

Marley dragged on her own cigarette and listened carefully. She assumed Draco was talking about his family and the rumors (while Marley felt they were all very true) going around that he was affiliated with the Dark Lord.

As far as she was concerned, being a Death Eater was more than just being a bigoted racist, it was being scum of the earth and should be treated as such.

Draco was young still and Marley sincerely hoped he hadn't taken the mark yet. Because as Marley watched her date's expression and eyes, she could tell he was not scum of the earth.


	9. Chapter 8

The Right of Wrong Doings

Chapter 8

After a cold chill had run down Marley's spine, Draco walked her back to the castle through a secret entrance that students used to get in and out for parties and such.

They had left relatively early and the party was in full swing by then, so when the duo got back to the commons really no one was there. The common room was completely vacant, so Draco suggested getting comfortable and just hanging out by the fire.

So Marley went up stairs and changed into some night shorts and a big T-shirt that was once her dad's. When she was back downstairs, she found Draco who had merely switched into a black T-shirt and jeans. Had Marley had her voice, she would have chastised him about it, but she just stayed silent.

Malfoy was already settled on the corner of the couch so she sat on his lap while leaning against of the leather arm and gazed at the fire.

"So tell me about that ring of yours." Draco stated, glancing at her silver band.

The witch couldn't contain an exasperated expression and huff of air.

He grinned, "So it's a good story?"

Marley gestured how she couldn't speak.

"Ah! I came prepared this time!" Draco shifted her to the side so he could reach the floor next to him and pulled up a piece of parchment and a quill that magically refilled itself.

With the paper in her hand she paused, not sure how to phrase this.

_Dumbledore wanted me to have someone to call upon in an Emergency._

_So he gave me this ring and Snape the other._

_Basically he can hear my thoughts and I his - ideally._

Marley paused and looked at Draco before returning to the parchment,

_It's incredibly annoying._

"'Ideally'?" Malfoy scrunched his face in thought, "What does that mean."

_He can do this weird block his thoughts from mine thing. _

_I think it's highly unfair._

Malfoy gave a little laugh at what she wrote. While the witch gave him a look that said, "What the hell is so funny?"

Once he saw her expression he explained, "It's called Occlumency, when he's blocking his thoughts. It's difficult magic to master, but can come in handy sometimes."

She underlined where she wrote, "It's incredibly annoying."

Draco simply shrugged, unaffected by the anger she felt, "Can you hear what he's thinking right now."

The witch shrugged and circled "Ideally" before writing,

_Sometimes he's too far away._

"Huh." Draco said and picked up her hand to look closer at the ring, before looking into her eyes.

In the flicker of the fire he thought she was down right gorgeous. Dark ringlets framing her face, unimaginable blue eyes and a beautiful smile. It was a struggle not to leer and be creepy, but he couldn't drag his eyes off her lips.

His date could see the wheels turning in Malfoy's head and prepared herself for what was next and sucking up the pain in her gut.

Malfoy leaned in and kissed her. She participated, but her mind was elsewhere and surely not in the moment he was having. Thankfully for her, it was gentle. It didn't seem demanding, as if this was foreplay for what was next.

Marley's mind kept flashing back to the summer. Instead of seeing Malfoy's pale face, she saw the tan complexion and chocolate brown eyes of Ryan. She saw him at her doorstep with flowers. His hair blowing in the soft wind. The beautiful sound of his guitar and tenor voice in unison – it was overwhelming.

Too much really and after only a little while, she had to pull away. The pain she felt seemed oblivious to Draco and he just smirked.

Silence filled the room and they both fidgeted, "So Snape, eh?"

The witch silently giggled, why did it all keep coming back to HIM? But she nodded anyway.

"I know you're not happy about it, but you're actually pretty lucky." Draco stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Well, actually she could, over the years she learned that Snape and Lucius Malfoy were good friends and therefore Draco got to do whatever he wanted around his Head of House.

"He's not such a bad guy. I've known him all my life and he gives off this bravado of an evil bastard, but I know he's got a heart." He explained with a little grin as if this was a secret only he was privy too. Well. Actually it was just that, "You mustn't tell anyone, but I had a governess who spent her days completely devoted to me. I really didn't socialize with anyone else outside of the manor. When I was 6, however, my mother gets it into her head that I need to learn to play with others and bond with those my own age. Thus with father's explicit permission I was allowed to go to this one daycare. The inevitable show-and-tell day comes. So I brought in my favorite toy: my kiddie broom. It only hovered a foot or so off the ground, but then it didn't matter. I was just like all the famous players I loved. I played with that thing everyday and was proud to bring it in. After presentations we got to play with our toys. There was this kid who brought in a little toy dragon that looked so realistic – I had to play with it. So we switched, just for a little while, but when it came time to switch back he took my broom and his dragon before going home.

"I cried it about it to my mom. Her solution was to buy me another, but it wasn't my broom." He spoke the next bit absentmindedly, as if he was just very used to it, "Father didn't care. He told me I deserved it if I didn't fight to get it back. Basically, I was devastated."

Marley was beginning to question what any of this had to do with Snape.

"One week later, Snape comes over to the manor for a meeting with my father. Just before he went down to Father's study, he called me over. From behind his back he pulls out my broomstick. I knew it was mine from the scratches and stickers I pasted on it." Draco's smile was ear to ear, "I don't know how the hell he knew, but since that day-" His voice caught as he stopped himself, "Since then I knew he was who I wanted to be my role model – only 99% Badass."

Marley was astonished, never had she ever seen even a glimmer of that 1%. She suspected she never would either, based upon their previous interactions.

#

Cheery, was a good word to describe the house, another could be: stereotypical. It was a large white 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home. There were clean black shutters, cookie cutter hedges and a large tree shading the yard. All that was missing was a tire swing and a golden retriever.

The inside was open and clean. In a little back room beyond sitting room was the playroom; decorated from head to toe in toys. In the center of the light blue room, was a little circular table with child-sized chairs. Lunch had been set out already – triangle shaped peanut butter and jelly. Across the table sat a man, scrunched up in a little green plastic chair. He too had a sandwich on a little plate and was taking a bit out of one slice.

Despite being cramped uncomfortably, he looked genuinely happy. Smiling, talking and laughing with whoever he was eating with. A mixture of amazement and glee just seemed permanently plastered there across his face brought out his crow's eyes. Similarly, each timed he moved his head, one of the many subtle streaks of gray in his hair shook.

Clearly, whoever he was with, he loved; in an undying sort of way. Nothing they could do would ever stop that and apparently that lucky person had done nothing to disappoint him, yet.

#

The witch woke with a start. Recently, she'd come to hate dreaming. Either she simply didn't understand a damn thing that was going on or she didn't understand why she'd dream such a thing.

Random and unpredictable, this one left her in a bitter mood. With Bernard not there, it was easy to get up and take a shower. While the water hit her back she reflected on the night before.

Shortly after another hour of Draco's rambling, about nothing in particular, she went to bed. What she thought most about was about them kissing. The vivid memories she had…it was all very, very horrible.

"I'm going to tell her I have to stop." Marley thought to her self as she shut off the water, "Katie's going to have to rely on her own charms to get Theo. I don't give a damn anymore."

But as she reached the great hall where Katie already was, the witch realized that that wasn't a feasible goal.

Being that she was a morning person, Katie and only a portion of the school were awake and eating. Since Draco wasn't here yet, Marley figured she could sit down with Katie, "Oh Marley! There is just so much to tell!" Katie exclaimed upon seeing her best friend, simultaneously dropping the fork full of egg in her hand.

Setting aside her own opinions the witch filled her plate and listened.

"Of course, after you and Draco left, I wandered over to Theo. He was dancing with someone else, but when he saw me-" She rolled her eyes to the ceiling, "it was just me and him the rest of the night. Each song that came on just brought us closer together. Then when we tired of that we sat at the bar and talked and…made out a little…" Katie was bursting. Not like she hadn't had boyfriends before, but just like usual, this one was far better than any before, "I'll tell you Marley, leaving him to go to bed was just so hard! ANYWAY, we are going to eat an early dinner today by the lake with you and Draco."

Marley hastily looked up from her own eggs in surprise, unaware she had made plans.

"Yeah, I told Theo that you and I would meet him and Draco down there about five-ish." Her southern drawl hung onto each word before breaking for her continuous string of thought to take another bite of breakfast.

Marley's face fell. Saturdays were something she liked to have to herself, or at least, choose for herself what to do.

"It'll be wonderful," Katie mused aloud, "You know you could wear that pretty white sundress. This girl in my house had her shoulder replaced – with metal, what's the deal with that – anyways she can supposedly predict the weather. According to her, the end of nice weather is approaching and fast."

Katie's pale blue eyes meandered up to her friend's face, "What's wrong?"

"I don't want to go!" Marley thought, but couldn't say. Yet, after a minute of contemplating the witch sighed and mouthed the word, "Nothing."

There wasn't a doubt in the witch's mind that she felt used. It seemed that Katie didn't really care about their friendship, but more about Theo and getting with him. With another mouthful of eggs she erased those thoughts and moved on. Perhaps she could wear that white dress with her flip flops without being chilly…

#

When taking off his cloak didn't ease the roasting he felt beneath his black shirt, Severus got up from behind his desk to open the windows. A light breeze instantly alleviated a bit of the stuffiness and he took a moment to take it in.

For a minute his mind went blank. No worries, no troubles and no war. Alas the wind broke and he was stuck with an irritatingly bad situation.

He'd been pouring over book and book to get enough information for the next gathering. Unfortunately he'd already come upon his answer. Rembrandt was right. There was a way to tap into the moon's power. While it was a strange ritual to perform to achieve this renewable resource, the side effects were lengthy. But that didn't mean anything. Jared had already teed the Dark Lord up with this idea. All Voldemort needed to hear was that it was possible from Severus and all the work that had been put into this war by the light was to go to shit.

There were holes in this "moon" thing, but it would be tricky to overcome the Dark Lord's short comings in such an amount of time.

Sitting back down behind his desk he picked up his quill and began to grade again. At this moment he was all the more encouraged to be strict on these kids. Because he of all people should be able to prepare them for the merciless-ness evil that he worked for. Because being protected by the staff and Dumbledore was all most of these brats knew.

Because if he didn't who will?

#

At precisely 5:06 that afternoon Marley and Katie strolled down the side of the hill, just next to the gardens to wear there was a blanket, a basket and their dates waiting.

Marley had decided not to go with her dress, for it was only a little bit too chilly and instead chose a pair of jeans, whose hem was frayed from excessive use and a black tang top with a slate gray long sleeved shrug. It's colors matched her mood.

"What a day, huh?" Katie grinned, focused more on the fading sun than the dreary sun.

Theo looked over both girls with a smile, while Draco just watched Marley and gave a "Hey!" which was said mostly to just her.

She grinned and sat next to him, ogling the basket, realizing how little she ate after breakfast this morning.

Upon seeing this, Theo opened the basket and handed everyone a sandwich, "For our dining purposes only, these fresh ham and cheese sandwiches straight from the exclusive Great Hall!" Theo tried to make the meal more grand than it actually was, "with the hand-milked pumpkin juice."

Draco said what Marley thought, "How do you milk a pumpkin?"

His best friend looked up from pouring everybody a cup, "Well – Mate – if you'd really like to know, it's a hard task." He rested back on his spot on the blanket and with all serious began his explanation, "The most difficult part by far is really getting a hold of the pumpkin once they know your intention – they don't like to be milked. Then it's all about technique and the rhythm as to get the most amount of juice possible."

The curly haired witch had to stop what she was eating in order to silently laugh without choking.

"Wow – I had no idea that you put so much effort into this meal." Draco paused for dramatic effect, "I deeply appreciate it, mate."

Katie giggled at the duo.

"Yeah, well you should because you didn't do a damn thing." Theo turned to Marley, still playing along with the charade, "Can you believe this guy just sat there as if this stuff just bloody grew from the ground?"

With an earnest, but teasing expression her face, Marley nodded, which earned a thunderous laugh from Theo.

Conversation from then progressed without the witch, although she was content to just listening and eating her sandwich. For then she was ignorant of the life around her and was at a peace.

That was until she looked up.

While Katie was chattering on about some gossip she heard, Marley looked up to see Theo leering at her. It only faintly reminded her of the look Draco gave her last night, but more and it sent chills down her spine.

She froze, unsure as to what to do, but in the brief amount of time it took her to get her bearings, Draco spotted Marley's face and his best mate's look. It was nothing more than two facial expressions, but Draco could tell more was going on.

With the mood completely shifted for all, but Katie, the conversation was hollow. Theo rested his arm around the southern witch's shoulders – causing her to all, but pass out from the affection. The clouds loomed ever closer as it began to near 7 o'clock and the setting of the sun.

"I think we'd best go in." Draco said after the sun was completely gone replaced with the night sky. With everyone in agreement, they packed up and trudged up to the castle. Marley made sure to be standing right next to Draco, feeling safer there.

"Oh no!" Katie exclaimed as they were only about fifty feet from an entrance. The bow she had been wearing in her hair had come free by the strong winds, causing it to suddenly fly behind her. Everyone turned around to watch it dance in the wind.

Marley pushed her own hair out of the way when she felt her ass get squeezed. She blushed, thinking it was Draco, but when she turned to see him, his attention was in his wand pointing at the ribbon; whereas Theo's attention was on her.

She paled, knowing that there was nothing good coming from that. Theo was nice, but she also had known of him for many years – he could be a real tool. Nothing about him was attractive, but maybe his smile and witty humor.

The witch turned away, only thankful that neither Draco or Katie had seen, but the thudding in her heart didn't begin to fade until they were in a little alcove and chair just outside the corridor leading to the moving stairs. Marley's date kept a protective arm around her the whole rest of the date – which was only about fifteen minutes long – since all conversation was dead, except for Katie's desperate attempts to engage Theo in some sort of deeper discussion.

Finally, Marley stood up and gave a little wave of good-bye to the group, before pretending to yawn.

Immediately, Draco jumped up, "I'll walk you back."

But instead Katie stood up, "No – I will, I've been meaning to ask her about some homework we have." It seemed as if only Marley saw through that blatant lie.

Draco, put off and not willing to interject once more sat back down next to Theo.

Together Marley and Katie set off towards the dungeons. It was only until they had passed several empty hallways did Katie guide her friend into a private alcove, away from the magic door to the Slytherin common room.

"You whore!" Katie snapped in a tone that was hushed, but defiant, "To think I trusted you!"

The curls in Marley's hair shook as she looked up at Katie, not expecting this.

Katie gave a little, psychotic smile at Marley, "You thought you could get by me on this! I know how wonderful he is, but that is just cruel. To think our friendship of 5 years just meant nothing to you! Even more astonishing is that you would sink so low. But I'm more vigilant than that – I saw how you two were this afternoon – all secretive!" She paused, "Theo is mine!"

"Theo? Theo? What the hell are you talking about?" Marley thought desperately.

"I should have seen it from the beginning. You're little smiles and joking. How foolish I was to let you steal him from under me with your slutty ways. The low tank tops – tight jeans! I bet this was your plan all along." Briefly she cast her maniac eyes away from Marley's confused ones.

"_You think I stole him from you?_ He's an absolute dick! If I had my druthers or even my voice I would have talk you out of this crush weeks ago!" The mute witch's mind was frantic and desperate.

Before even entering the dungeons, Severus heard his student's thoughts racing in his mind.

"Marley Anderson – you thought you could get by me, but I saw with my own eyes how he grabbed your ass, unable to resist! What was Draco not enough for you?" Katie was growing scarier and more irrational as she scolded her companion.

The potion's master cautiously and silently neared the two students, but when he saw them, he merely stood in the shadows.

"_Katie, _please, I didn't do anything purposefully. He's a man whore himself. I've seen him with so many girls – Katie – you don't understand. It's not me, I wasn't trying to hurt you." Both Severus and Marley could hear the pleading in her thoughts and feel the tears building. With no words to focus her best friend, the witch grabbed Katie's arms and tried to get her to understand.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!" Katie spat and took a step back, "You – you concubine!"

There was silence, where Katie could find no more words to say and Marley was still in disbelief. Then, the blonde witch marched off.

Leaving Marley alone, in the little alcove where tears marked her loss.

The Potions Master was still, not sure what to do.

It was the witch who pulled herself together and stepped out. She turned away from the Common Room and down the exact passage where Severus was hiding. Before the Potions Master could step out of the way, the witch collided with his chest.


	10. Something

The Right of Wrong Doings

Chapter 9

"Something" by Escape the Fate

"It's not happening. It's not happening." Marley said to herself over and over. She felt weak for thinking like that, but for all intents and purposes, her friends, Katie and Damien, were the only two people in her life that matter. The only people who allowed her to clutch onto her sanity.

As she turned a corner she collided with the worst possible person – Professor Snape.

Her flustered mind could only come up with, "Ugh!" in a mixture of horrified and irritated thought.

Severus himself had not expected this and kept his shocked thought to himself, but he clutched her arms to keep her from falling, understanding the instability radiating from within her.

At first she liked the touch, the feeling of his hands holding her, even in such a formal way. Their eyes met and she realized he wasn't what she was looking for, the embrace she wanted, the comforting arms of someone who cared wasn't what he had and she wriggled free, "Get off me!"

The potions professor took that time to peer deeper within her, to gain a more eclectic perspective, but got caught up within her frazzled eyes, how desperate they searched his own.

Once she was gone though he didn't follow, but instead stepped deeper within the dungeons, while she moved on.

For weeks now she'd been warding off tears, keeping her composure and maintaining a solid, neutral public appearance. But now, now she couldn't handle the pressure and several betraying tears trickled down her cheeks.

As the witch carefully stumbled down random corridors and ignored any of the few people she passed, she calculated the next few days, few weeks. Now that Katie had this mind set that Marley betrayed her and was a backstabbing slut, there was no way that she could let Marley go through the painfully long process of silent explanation. Even a written response would be too much to bother her with.

And Damien; Katie is probably out looking for him right now to rant to. With Marley's adventurous history, what would stop him from falling prey to Katie's persuasive words?

Theo was… "a fucking dick…" Marley decided, mentally of course. The anger and frustration billowing inside her would cause any contact they would only allow for the 5 seconds it would take her to hex his balls into infinity…if she could get the magical stamina to do so.

"I knew he was trouble from the beginning…I really did…why couldn't I tell her that when I still had the ability to do so?" the witch criticized, "why?"

And Draco…Marley found herself actually liking Draco. Not in a way that would cause her to jump his bones, but as a friend. What she thought she knew about him wasn't what he actually was. As cliché as it seemed, she found herself liking the pages of his book instead of the cover she thought she knew him by. But now that she developed this respect for him, Marley couldn't bring herself to show her face to him, especially if he heard the rumors Katie was sure to spread.

The mute witch was storming down hallways now, with no particular destination. Her furious emotions guided her down a hallway with tapestries that twisted and flew up in response to the energy she gave off. Any other time she would have stopped to examine this phenomenon, but it didn't matter right now. Little did.

But through her frustrated tears she did notice one thing. A tapestry shifted and an opening appeared.

Down the echoing hallway she heard the voices of people and now that her face was red from the tears and her state completely disheveled, she ducked behind the tapestry into the unknown hall.

It was dark until after she took a step or two, then a torch lit up, to her surprise, to her right, which revealed about a yard or twos worth of space. After she took those extra steps another torch lit. The witch followed the trail until it took her to some stairs. Up those stairs was another hall and then a door. It wasn't open, but it was unlocked so she pulled open the large oak door to find a patio. In the pleasant nighttime air, it was beautiful. There was an over hang and a balcony, which upon further investigation overlooked the breath taking view of the gardens.

Despite the awe and joy she felt in the mini adventure and it's hidden treasure, Marley was more relieved by the solemnity that the quite, hidden patio had. Seating herself on the ground next to the wall, Marley wept.

It felt wrong. It all felt wrong. The tears hurt and her shoulders shook. It was so uncharacteristic of her to feel this way, that even though the situation had continuously been calling for it, she still was surprised to feel the sensation of painful intakes of cool air and loud gasps that seemed to come with every snotty sniffle and tear.

But another unpleasant shock of the door opening caused her to hiccup into silence. She starred as George Weasley stepped out from behind the door and looked at Marley.

He gave a little smile, "Hello there."

Unappreciative of his polite gesture, the witch just glared at him. In no way did she like that he invaded her new found privacy.

"It appears you've found my little get away. Well. Fred and my get away." His red hair caught the breeze as he slowly made his way toward her, "You see I was coming down the hall and saw the tapestry shudder…I knew I had to come find the person who so cleverly found this little hole in the wall – no pun intended." He offered a smile, but the witch was in no mood for him.

"You seem…distracted."

He knew she couldn't say anything, so he watched her face for any tell of emotion.

"I thought as much. My brother was telling me about how you attended the Slytherin party along side Malfoy and your…curiosity of the merchandise." George was thinking about his words carefully before he spoke them and assumed a position next to Marley, pulling his knees close to his chest like her.

"Not many people understand the purpose of it, but there is something in drugs that you can't find in magic or another person. In fact, it the one thing that I've seen can erase all that. Some of the more recreational items are more for the partier. For the weekend warrior. But progressively those who find themselves in a place of emptiness, where each day only brings on a worse pain, a seemingly unnecessary pain; the kind that weigh you to the bed like a millstone…those people find solace in what we have. Because things like this," he pulled a bag out from his pocket, "provide blissful hours of nothing."

Marley continued to glare at him, but she was listening to what he was saying. George set the baggy next to her and smiled once more.

"Hope it helps." With that he left. She heard his footsteps dissipate and she relaxed into the wall. Her own tears had quieted upon this conversation. It was not at all helpful to her predicament, but she let his words digest within her. There was no intent to use what he gave her, but she put it in her pocket anyway.

#

It was magnificent to him. How one color could be so much more than one color. Red was more than just red – it was burnt sienna, mahogany, mango and neon carrot. Beyond that it was all so carefully, carelessly entwined into beautiful. In the sunlight, which peeked through the windows of the library, it was enchanting. Her usual brilliant locks were on fire just across the table.

At first her words were muffled, but it didn't matter, focus wasn't on her words. Her delicate, freckled hand grabbed the arm that was carefully resting on a book, which broke the train of thought over her hair, "Please! I really think it's so cool! I want to get one, but I don't know how…"

There was a feeling of muscles contracting to form a smile.

"excellent!" the elegant smile brightened her face and green eyes glimmered.

After packing away the _Wizarding through the Ages_ and let himself be guided out of the castle and down to the lake. The outside, which normally seemed bland, looked so much more appealing with her presence.

As they reached the docks, she looked back at him with a dimpled smile before taking him to the very edge.

"At first I saw them from over there by the banks…" she cast a hand towards the sandy edges of the Great Lake, "then I followed them over here. They're hard to see, but if you look closely."

Lily bent over to extend her finger to the depths of the lake.

Severus squinted his eyes to see…nothing, "I – I don't see it." He admitted.

"No!" She begged, "Look harder, when they move you can see them glimmer.

A long minute passed before he saw the twitching of red, "See!" Lily persisted, "Do you see the spots?"

A smile again re-emerged on his face, "yes." Quickly he pulled out his wand and pointed it at the little quivering dot and charmed the water so that the encapsulated spot would move through air and closer to them.

She squealed in delight.

"Now, they're not what you think they are." Severus explained as Lily admired the floating ball of water in front of her face, "You have to look closely."

Her eyes widened as she intently stared down the spot.

Severus watched her expression, "See beyond the moving water, what is it doing?"

There was a short amount of time before she saw it – the beat. Pump, pump, pump, "Severus…why is it pulsating?"

"Because it's a heart; the beating heart of a Gilnina."

Just like that the invisible outline of a fish seemed absolutely apparent, "Merlin's beard!" she smiled over at Severus, "It's magnificent."

#

Before Severus opened his eyes, everything was simple. This dream, was not the first of its kind and brought with it a feeling of comfort and ease; happiness really. It was the only kind of its sort he received.

Crumpled in his bed spread, Severus took in a deep breath and pretended that he could smell the Great Lake and feel the radiance of her smile. Briefly he imagined opening his eyes to see her right there next to him. Not even in bed with him, but just near him. That much would make him content.

Yet as he forced the weary sleep from his eyes the room was dark, except for the streak of light the tiny window in the corner allowed. Next to him in bed was empty. In the chair across the room, no one sat.

When he took a shower, no one was awaiting for him to come out and join them for coffee. In the Great Hall, no one but the same old students and faculty were there. No one actually wanted to see him there anyway.

But an inward need to keep going, to keep fighting, caused him to button his shirt and straighten in his seat everyday.

Due to the influx of pain those dreams brought him, Severus didn't take up his usual sport in seeing inside the minds of the students around him. He didn't even notice when he didn't hear Marley's nagging thoughts in his own. He didn't notice she wasn't there at breakfast.

However, during her Potion's class he did.

It was the silence that caused him to change his thoughts from Lily to Marley. He was in the middle of giving instructions when this dawned upon him. How easy he was able to speak, how the quiet he normally demanded from his other classes were present in this one too.

"…it will be necessary to…" briefly he contemplated why this was so odd, "…crush them…"

He looked across the class to where his _favorite_ student sat. Marley wasn't looking at him; she stared out a tiny port-hole sized window at the far end of the classroom. Her head was cradled in her palms, nothing seemed to be going on inside her head.

"Ms. Anderson… if my lesson is not interesting enough for you, I'm sure I can find away to better let you understand…after school." The potions master watched her expression as he said these words aloud for the whole class to hear.

Blue eyes merely shifted from the window to his face, utter disinterest spread across her face, "Okay." This was said only in thought.

It was a response he hadn't expected, but that only sparked a reason for him to discipline her further, "5 points from Slytherin for being callow and I will see you after school today.

There was a brief moment where he digested her unfazed gaze.

"Well, bloody hell then, 10 points from Professor Snape for being such a twat muncher!" Marley thought viciously as one hand slammed down on the table, however her own response surprised her so that her eyes flickered on and a knot clenched in her stomach.

Suddenly, most of the students realized that the mood had changed in the room. They didn't know what about or how, but the glare Severus cast upon his student was one similar to those he gave Harry Potter when he was in a particularly bad mood.

All sat still as they waited for the next response, "I will see you after class – Ms. Anderson. You may begin to forget your weekends now."

The anger from the day prior was built onto as she reflected on how she originally planned to have her afternoons and weekends from now on - in bed, asleep.

Class was not the same after that moment. Everyone was quiet, even during the time brewing the potion assignment, most kept quiet or to a dull whisper.

It took Marley everything she had to ignore the stares.

After class, she didn't even bother to get up from her seat; she just sat still with her books on the table. She watched him at his desk, scribbling something down with his quill.

When he was done, he met her gaze.

"Ms. Anderson…" Honestly he didn't know what to say, this experience was relatively new. He new little if anything about her which made insults that much harder and she had directly called him something wildly inappropriate during class, "Your behavior is absolutely horrid. Prior to today, I felt generous, giving you a bit of a learning curve to suppress your thoughts. However my generosity has come to an end. The outlandish impudence you present is no longer tolerable. I will be contacting the Headmaster during your next class to contemplate your punishment further."

Charcoal eyes watched her, to see her flinch, to examine building tears and to prepare for her backlash. Yet, to his surprise, she was quiet.

Nothing happened.

"You may go."

Nothing happened.

Severus looked at her with a more stern expression, "Ms. Anderson, leave."

For a while it was quiet in the outside room, but in Marley's mind she imagined next to her a man, whose hair was graying and eyes whose fury was only magnified by his lenses. She imagined his response and calloused finger poking Professor Snape's chest. In her mind the smell of Old Spice and cigar wrapped around her as his protective arms only pulled her tighter to him.

But, in the next second, he was gone.

"I will not tell you one more time."

As to avoid any sort of episode that could potentially display weakness to her professor, Marley left and headed to the girls lavatory instead of her next class.

**A/N: The title of this song is "Something" based off of the song by Escape the Fate, which I do not own. **


	11. Let Go Frou Frou Cover

Chapter 10

The Right of Wrong Doings

Let Go (Frou Frou Cover) – Boys Like Girls

Early the next morning, just as the sun crossed his pale cheek in the dorm room, he heard the pecking of a message pound against the window pane. Turning on his side, Draco examined the permanent angry expression of his eagle owl glaring at him through the window. Rolling out of bed he opened the window and flipped off his grumbling neighbors. With a brisk movement he broke the seal traditionally welded by his father.

Using the that same morning sunlight, Draco read the short, yet instructive letter:

Draco,

It is of the up most importance that you return to the manor so that I may speak with you in absolute privacy. This afternoon your mother will pick you up at that school to bring you home. Be prepared.

Your Father

Lucius Malfoy

As Draco expected there were no endearing words, no apologies for interrupting his day. Just "be prepared".

Despite his annoyance, he was too awake to return to sleep so he took a shower and dressed in his robes. After that he decided that it was late enough that the Great Hall would have food, so he exited the dungeons and traveled the winding passageways to the main hallway. Just as he was turning away from the moving staircases, he spotted a dark figure coming down a flight of stairs.

"Marley!" he called, smiling at her presence, though she seemed not so happy to see him, "Hey! What were you doing up there?" Quickly understanding the difficulty of a response he moved on, "Listen I was going to grab some breakfast – join me?"

She looked at him from approximately two meters away. There was no expression, no affirmative or negative. So he stepped forward to grab her hand, but she pulled away.

Her hand moved to push him away. Instantly he was hurt, what did he do? The answer soon arrived in his mind. Theo had told him that Marley's friend wasn't happy with him or Marley – "this must have something to do with Katie. Listen whatever is going on between you guys, I don't really care, I'm not mad with you and unless you're upset with me there is no reason why we can't enjoy a quiet morning."

The witch watched him still, looking for anything that made his speech fake.

The next time he pulled at her hand, she let him guide her towards the Great Hall, even though her robes hadn't yet been changed from the night before where she spent a very long time scraping tables as Snape split his time between glaring at her and reading.

Draco pulled Marley into the rather baron Great Hall, where he took her to their normal seats and put some toast on her plate, before serving himself a healthy plate of eggs.

The witch leered at the food. Her stomach turned, chasing away the hunger. Where as the nights fast had Draco half in his plate.

But with each chew the wizard thought about the witch next to him, or rather her outwardly quiet state. Normally she fought through her disability to amuse him, but today she seemed to be stuck in herself. He didn't like that, he much preferred her smile.

"So…you got detention with Snape huh? I suppose he's got you on Saturday detentions until the end of time?"

Her bright, blue eyes were dull as they crossed his face, but she smiled and turned back to the untouched toast.

"Yeah, he can be a bit of a bastard all the time." Draco said more to himself, "You heard me earlier right?"

She turned her head.

Malfoy stopped and looked at her, "I know you and Katie are in a fight and I don't know what it's about, but that doesn't change anything between you and me. I don't care what anybody else says because you're too much to have gossip change my mind about anything."

By now she had turned herself so that she was facing the wizard. His words were like music to her ears. It felt as if this was the first time someone was putting her first in a positive way. Yet his words were tainted with Marley's knowledge of the situation, "He says that now, but once he hears Katie's side. She's so dogmatic. I'll never get a chance to explain." Marley thought.

"Ugh!" Draco grinned and let his arms crash to the table, "I only wish that you had a scroll and quill. I want to hear all about everything, I want to have a second part to this conversation.

The witch had become numb to this, but realized that she had a golden opportunity to write Draco a long letter about what happened, "And if he's really being as wonderful as it sounds he _should_ believe me."

With a newfound hope energizing her the witch avidly mouthed, "Accio." To her companion.

"Ow?" Draco guessed, "What hurts?"

Remembering the other night, when her anger caused the magic to radiate off her and move the tapestries Marley stopped trying to get Draco to do her handiwork and concentrated. She attempted to recall the feeling, the magic. The happiness whirled around in the pit of her stomach, her lids closed as she concentrated, "Accio." Her mouth formed the word, despite the silence.

She opened her eyes and waited, giving only a glance to Malfoy who was confused at her actions.

It's possible a whole two minutes passed as she waited in quiet for her opportunity to come flying at the two of them…more specifically her, but nothing happened.

"What is it you're doing?" The blonde wizard asked cautiously.

The witch let her arms drop, which had been frozen in the air along with her anticipation.

Draco wasn't stupid, he saw that glimmer of happiness within her and just as quickly as it came it left. It irritated him to see her so sullen, "I think you need to do something fun – something to make you cheery again."

"Again?" thought with a sarcastic tone. Yet she looked over at the wheel turning visibly in Draco's eyes. Despite her frustration she gave a pursed grin and mouthed, "What?"

This time he understood, "Well, what if…" he looked towards the ceiling for inspiration, "…what if we went for a walk just before dinner and I'll talk and you'll listen – as you do so well" he teased, "then after supper we'll cuddle in the commons and you can write out everything that's been on your mind?"

"Snape?" Marley mouthed, inquiring what to do about her detention.

The wizard took a moment to understand her, then looked over at the fireplace behind them in thought, "Well…no problem…then we'll go for a walk before your detention and then we'll just pick up right after dinner right where we left off…eh?"

Marley digested what he was saying. Of course her immediate reaction was an agreeing smile, but as Draco began to talk about the upcoming test in Potions, her mind drifted.

In all honesty, Marley really didn't _know_ Draco, but in the time they've shared together she understood that he was not what everyone made him out be nor was he the smart ass he wanted everyone else to think he was. She just knew he was a good guy on the inside. So it was then Marley decided she could tell him about her summer. All the fantasy romantics and all the tragedy, all over her worries and all her problems.

She didn't think of him like a boyfriend or a lover, but she did think of him.

#

Her day became bearable from that moment on. In Muggle Studies, Katie glared at her, but Marley ignored her. It sucked that Katie glared at her, while sitting next to Damien, who clearly had been poisoned by the Southern witch's lies, but she overcame it some how.

During Charms, while Marley ignored the lesson Flitwick was teaching – because she could hardly pick her own nose with her wand let alone cast the bubble-head charm – she practiced first year spells. For the first time since she learned how to open the door to the Slytherin commons Marley was able to perform actual magic.

It came as a bit of a surprise actually. Ever since she lost her voice, Marley had been desperately trying to practice magic without her voice. During most classes, such as Transfigurations and Charms, Marley has been unable to actually practice with the other students because of this, so instead she'd practice first year spells.

Her mahogany wand focused on the very center of a section of scroll Marley ripped off her notes. Perhaps for the sake of suspense she didn't cast the spell right away, she let the image of the rough-edged paper drifting in the air settle in her mind.

"Wingardium Leviosa." She thought and mouthed. To her surprise the paper began to follow the lead of her wand up into the air. Marley's bright blue eyes widened as she watched the magic happen.

Flitwick, who had been watching his other students practice on his stool, noticed her reaction on an off-hand glance, "Ms. Anderson! You've done it!"

Instantly the whole class turned to look in her direction, some appalled that she conquered at least a little bit of silent magic, others bitter because they'd never been able to and Katie just continued to glare in her general direction.

Normally, Marley wouldn't be an attention whore about this, but she was proud of herself and was willing to let others be happy with her – or willing to ignore those who wanted to rain on her parade.

As a result of her morning's achievements, even Potion's was tolerable. Marley who was actually very good at Potions in addition to her excellent mood, caused her to quickly and efficiently make a potion that the rest of her class, including Draco, seemed to struggle with.

No one else could hear it, but she also did this while humming, except Professor Snape. Marley blissfully ignored him today, not wanting to sour her mood with his sour temperament, but Severus noticed everything about this change.

Especially since only yesterday she was calling him a "Twat Muncher" and disrupting class in her own silent, but deadly sort of way. Unlike the day before where she paid no attention because her mind was wrapped around the fight between herself and Ms. Sullivan, today she paid no attention because she was thinking about something good.

On any other day, he would have drifted into her mind and learned all about this change in behavior…except she was doing the annoying humming thing once more. Severus could tell that his brain leech was becoming increasingly sensitive to his Legilimency and in order for him to peer into her thoughts further he'd have to dig through the song, which was acting like a wall.

"I wanna sleep under a different piece of sky, I wanna live a bit before I die, I wanna be so close to heaven I see angles…" Severus heard a female voice serenade.

The potions master wasn't willing to break his cover with Ms. Anderson, so the spy within him came out as he changed his Legilimens to another students mind. Draco, who was working next to Ms. Anderson, became a prime target.

Through his favorite student's mind, he looked through Draco's eyes. At one moment they were chopping away at foot of a three headed chicken and the next they were leering at Ms. Anderson.

Yet instead of wearing the robes that Severus knew her to be wearing, Draco was looking at her with a new outfit of hip hugging jeans and a low cut sweater. Her curves were more present as she swayed her hips a little with the strings of the guitar Severus could still hear from her mind.

Her dark chocolate hair was pulled up into a bun, as per Potion's protocol, yet when she looked up at Severus – er Draco – a delicate curl fell to the side of her face, but that was not what caught his attention. Two bright blue eyes suddenly pierced him. His breath caught in his throat as he froze, in this moment. Her white smile only enhanced the beauty of her eyes. There was something so magical about them, because they weren't just one color, except they were. It took Severus a moment, but he realized that they were like fire – literally. So blue because of their hot intensity, ultramarine around the edges and then transitioning through a color wheel to a cyan blue right around the pupil. It was surreal.

Draco turned back to his work, unaffected like the potions master was.

Severus pulled out of Draco's mind and sat back in his chair, not prepared to look at her just yet, he simply just read a book until class timed out.

#

That afternoon Marley patiently waited in the courtyard for Draco to meet her like he said he would during Potions. She could just see the two of them hanging out most of the afternoon, maybe hand-in-hand, though she hoped not, Draco distracting her just enough to make it through detention, then she can finally, _finally_ get rid of all the baggage she's been holding on to. It was all she could think about during Divinations.

Yet as the sun revolved closer to the earth, the witch began to get worried. They would have only really had a half hour or so to walk about before her detention, which would have sufficed. Yet every second he wasn't there was another second that they wouldn't have together. When there was only five minutes before the end of the hour, Marley understood she had been stood up.

As she walked towards the dungeons, the dysphoria of the situation sunk in. It wasn't like she had never been stood up before, but after all the excitement of this morning and this day…everything just _really_ sucked.

By the time she reached the Potions room, not only had she rebounded to the night of the fight between her and Katie, but she was even more depressed.

As awful as it sounded, Severus was almost happy not to see her so cheery, he had doubts ever since class that he could handle it – something that seriously disconcerted him. He knew the second she walked into his room that she was back to what seemed like her usual sulking self. The potions master actually felt for her.

Usually he didn't give a damn about his student's personal lives, but Ms. Anderson was different. Maybe it was the rings, but suddenly he noticed her more and not just physically. He watched as her time with Draco lifted her spirits, he watched as her cockiness lifted a solitary eyebrow when she tormented him during class and he watched as she seemed to fall into a downward spiral after the fight he watched between Marley and Katie. That was only made worse because he could hear her desperately trying to convince Katie that whatever was going on, she had wrong, yet he knew Ms. Sullivan had no idea what the mute witch was miming about.

A small part of him felt responsible, wasn't it his job to protect her from disaster? Wasn't that the purpose of these damnable rings? But Severus was almost determined to not get involved in any students personal life. Strife brings character, an important lesson his father taught him.

With that mentality, he flipped back a loose strand of hair and gave a menacing look at his approaching student.

She took her time walking up to his desk, clearly not caring.

"Today you will organize the ingredients closet." He rose from his chair and lead Marley to a closet in the back corner of his room which contained labeled bottles and bins of all sorts. Some had spilled, some were not where they belonged and others just seemed to be missing, "These should all be placed in alphabetical order and spotless by the end of your detention. So no dawdling."

There was just silence. No comeback. No rolled eyes. No songs. Just silence.

He watched as she mechanically took off her jacket and passed in front of him and begin her work.

For the next two hours, there was plenty of time for Snape to leer at her ass, as she would bend over and kneel on the ground to scrub or search for a missing item, but something about it felt wrong…

#

Earlier that evening…

Draco sat bored in Herbology, "Merlin! How long could this woman go on about the careful pruning of-of…" of whatever odd, square plant fidgeted before him.

"The root is the most useful part, because of the quantity of purposes it has in the polyjuice potion, Amortentia…the Kissing-Concoction," to the awkward dismay of many students within the greenhouse, Professor Sprout waggled her eyebrows.

Thankfully a 6th year appeared at the door, Draco had seen him around, but couldn't recall his name.

"What is it?" Professor Sprout spat – not liking to stop during her lesson.

The student mostly unphased looked at the blonde wizard, "Professor Dumbledore wishes to have a word with Draco Malfoy."

With a sigh she waved away her student, "Mr. Longbottom, be a dear and put Draco's plant in the back."

Almost with a skip in his step he took off his gloves and followed the sixth year up to the Headmaster's staircase, which began to move as soon as the duo stepped on the first golden step.

The 6th year knocked and left after the Headmaster called, "Come in Draco."

Malfoy pushed the large door open only to discover his mother sitting on a chair opposite the Headmaster.

"Hello Draco!" She stood up and smiled at her beloved son.

"Good afternoon Mr. Malfoy, it appears that there are pressing matters you must attend to back at your home, so your mother is here to bring you home."

Draco instantly remembered the letter he had received that morning and nodded.

"Do you need anything before we leave?" Narcissa gently asked.

He shook his head.

"Well, then, if everything is in order, you are more than welcome to use my fireplace to return home." Courteously he stood and ushered them over to the side of the room, where one at a time they floo back to the Manor.

Specifically to the large sitting room towards the front of the house. Once his mother stepped out of the green burst of powder, she hugged her son. She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to. Within her firm grasp, Draco understood that his mother both loved and missed him, "You're father is in his study and he wants to speak with you – but knock first."

All within a second, Draco flashed back to a horrifying moment where he just walked into his father's office where he had a girl pinned to the floor. A chill ran down Draco's spine as his mind's eye recalled how he didn't have mercy upon the girl by putting her under the Imperius curse. Instead he made her feel the cuts and bruises that he manually inflicted as he – Draco cringed away from the decade old memory. The young Malfoy could only hope that he killed her, instead of making her relive that awful afternoon ever again.

"After you two are done, I'll have the elves bring out dinner." She gave a smile, but Draco couldn't honestly return it.

With that he took off his robe and tossed it on an arm chair before navigating himself past the dungeons and the dining room, to his father's office. Dutifully he knocked, to which he received a, "Come in."

Unlike his mother, his father didn't smile or warmly greet Draco. Instead he merely looked up from his stack of papers, "Sit down Draco."

Obediently, Draco slid into a leather arm chair.

Lucius looked up at his son. His appearance had lost it's importance in these past couple of months, or was it years now? Either way his long hair was slowly graying and his beard was long past a five o'clock shadow. His intimidating blue eyes sternly looked over his son.

"I wanted to discuss something with you," Lucius began, dropping his quill on the desk, "In your mind I want you to honestly think of Dark Lord and our fellow Death Eaters…put them in order of favorites." Draco did so, thinking of the first three: Snape, Bellatrix, Rembrandt, but also Draco noted how further down this list was his own father.

"Now think of the same group of people in order of importance."

Draco thought of a very similar list, the top 3 not changing. However now his father was only slightly higher than before.

"Neither of us are important, nor a favorite to the Dark Lord, as I'm sure you now realize. With this war raging as it is, that is a very dangerous place to be. I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to let this order remain the way it is when we win." Lucius stood up from his own chair and paced over to a window, "If we continue to remain at the bottom, we may escape with our lives, but no longer will we be needed, because right now our importance is merely due to numbers. You and I are only pawns. Once the Dark Lord no longer needs us, he won't keep us – that is only more applicable when Potter is finally dead."

Draco leaned back a little in his chair, listening to what his father was saying.

"I am not in a position to change that, not without a hell of a lot of luck." Lucius stood up from his own chair and paced over to a window, "If we continue to remain at the bottom, we may escape with our lives, but no longer will we be given the luxuries we have now, because right now our importance is merely due to numbers. You and I are only pawns, an addition to his arm. Once the Dark Lord no longer needs us, he won't keep us – that is only more applicable when Potter is finally dead."

Draco leaned back a little in his chair, listening to what his father was saying.

"I am not in a position to change that, not without a hell of a lot of luck. _You_ however attend school with not only a favorite, but the favorite. While Severus is a good friend of mine, I will not put his life above mine and you ought not do so either. Beyond that all the children of the group attend that school, which could easily move us up the list." Lucius turned away from the window and looked at Draco, "What you need to do is find some information, some leverage to get you, me and your mother out of harms way."

Lucius had walked across the room and was only a foot away from his son. While publicly Draco worshipped the ground his father walked on, in all actuality he loathed his father. In no way did he want to actually help his father, further more he didn't want to bring down his friends or his only real role model. He would not do this for his father, but Lucius was right about one thing. By moving either of them up the list, his whole family – including his mother – would become more valuable and less dispensable.

A silence rung in the air as Draco digested this, but it did not last long, "AM I TO UNDERSTAND YOU'RE WILLING TO PUT YOUR MOTHER'S LIFE IN HARMS WAY TO PROTECT THOSE MUDBLOOD LOVERS? AM I TO UNDERSTAND YOU WILL PUT ALL OF US IN DANGER BECAUSE YOU'RE ONLY HALF OF A MAN?" Lucius screamed, causing a vein to push forward on his neck and the manifestation of his desperation to only become more evident.

"NO! No! I'm just thinking about how to go about doing this." Draco quickly retorted.

Lucius looked over his son, not having an ounce of faith in him, "You better think fast."

**A/N: Sorry it's taken me a bit to get this chapter up, hopefully foreshadowing is getting the wheels in your heads to turn! I used two separate songs in this story that are not mine: Let Go (Frou Frou Cover) by Boys Like Girls, which was used as inspiration and Fly Away by Sugarland, which Marley sings. Please review if you liked this chapter or any other opinions you may have!**


	12. Jar of Hearts

Chapter 11

Jar of Hearts

The Right of Wrong Doings

The closet of feathers, slime, goo, bugs and other ingredients in jars sat organized in alphabetical order, from top to bottom. All the grime that had been congealed to the wooden shelves had been scrapped off and mostly restored to their original state.

With a little pride peeking through her eyes, Marley examined her work from the stone floor. It had been about an hour, but oddly enough Marley didn't want to leave. She loathed Snape – true – but their was something comforting about the even bubbling of a near by cauldron, the dim lighting cast by the single window and the ever present charcoal glare of her professor. Maybe it was because here she belonged. Grant it, she belonged because she was in detention, but there was nowhere else she wanted, no one else missed her presence.

Meanwhile Severus glanced up from his book, _An Examination of the Elemental Magic_, to see Marley sprawled on the stone floor and give a light sigh, "Miss Anderson," Severus spoke with his usual low and stern voice, "I host detention here, not naptime."

"I thought you also held class here, Severus?" His student questioned in a sarcastically innocent tone within his head, "If not I know of several people who have been severally misguided."

The Potions Master could feel the beginnings of a migraine settle in his temples. While he was generally annoyed and angry at her for all her shenanigans, there was a part of him that felt sympathetic to her situation, or rather the little he knew about her life that he'd come to understand.

It became a new hobby of his – watching her. Not because she fascinated him or because he found her irresistible, but because it was a compromise between not getting involved in his student's life (a practice he avoided like the plague) and fulfilling his obligation to protect her while she was mute. This was easy during class and meal times, but when she wasn't around he channeled the spy within him to hear about what was going on, because anyone who paid close enough attention could tell _something_ was wrong. Thus Severus sat back and took a seat on the gossip train.

During his first block class, he over heard some fifth year Ravenclaws gossiping about Draco and his escapades with Marley, while this was mostly about Malfoy and his sexual appeal to these younger students, there was also talk of what many believed to be his girlfriend. Severus wasn't willing to believe that she demonstrated fitting her whole fist in her mouth for Draco like these girls seemed to, but one thing Severus could rely on Marley for was the ability to surprise him.

His doubts only increased after he listened as two students from his own house discussed how much of a slut she was because of her erotic relationship with Mr. Nott and Draco – something which he knew not to be true.

The final rumor he had heard by using his Legilmens during lunch, was that she had been talking to the Weasley twins. According to Allison, the student whose mind he had been reaping, Ms. Anderson was buying drugs from them. And not the "usual stuff".

Honestly, Severus wasn't willing to believe all of this was true, but he could no longer check with his Legilimens because Marley's awareness of his presence in her mind was growing more perceptive. And even though her novice mind couldn't block him out, he didn't want to fight with her about this issue or anything else.

Despite that it was clear to even him, or maybe only him, that his student's mentality had been soured since the summer ended and was declining even faster since the fight he overheard just days prior. A mixture of sympathy, guilt and pity made the decision within Severus that he needed to step up in his role as Head of House and assist Ms. Anderson – just so that she wouldn't be an embarrassment to the Slytherin title.

"Ms. Anderson, are you finished yet?" He called from his desk.

Marley was still laying on the floor, "Yes, but I feel like my lungs are going to shrivel up from your medieval punishment."

Ignoring her comment, "Come here then, please" he gestured to a seat in front of him."

"Please? What manners you have Severus! I would have never guessed." Sarcasm dripped from her lips as she sat down in an old wooden chair directly across from Snape. She leaned forward casually, allowing Severus the ability to leer down her cleavage, but he carefully focused his eyes on hers – not needing another distraction.

"What is it you intend to do with your life?" Severus felt odd asking such a personal question, but kept a serious face and tone.

The question caught Marley off guard, "I want to be a dancer – in the magical world."

This answer didn't satisfy the direction of his speech since he couldn't respond with "and you think you can achieve that with such a long smear of rule breaking on your permanent record?"

When he didn't respond she continued, "I feel as if the world of magic doesn't have an appreciation for music or dancing because everyone is so caught up with the potions and charms and spells. I want to enlighten them to the beauty and joy of the performing arts."

Actually, the Potions Master felt this to be a rather creative and unique dream. It still didn't tie into where he was going with it, but he persisted, "That will require a great deal of support from your friends and family, won't it?"

Instantly, the curiosity and ease of the conversation hardened visibly for the witch as her brow furrowed and her posture straightened, "Yes."

"So you should be respectful and honorable to – your parents especially – for all they are doing to grow your education so you may pursue your dream career?"

Marley pursed her lips and tightened her fist around the arm of the chair, this time she didn't offer a response.

Severus could tell that he had her attention, "It seems clear to me that you don't care at all about your parents or friends since you won't try at achieving in class. Even worse your permanent record and reputation is damaged by the utter disregard for authority and common courtesy." He cocked an eyebrow, "Honestly, do you care at all?"

The goal of all this was to get a rise out of her just enough to insure that she would correct her behavior without any more detentions, but as he watched her from across the desk he could tell he had said something wrong for not only was she shooting daggers at him, but he could feel the anger pulsating out of her mind.

"You. Bastard." She spat through gritted teeth, "You don't know anything! You think you can ask a few questions and give me a little lecture and that solves everything? Because you know so much about everything? Because you are the all–knowing, all–fearing, Ruler of the Lab, King of Cruel, Titan of Terrible? That just because you want me to that I will straighten out? Well let me tell you something, past that tough façade and renegade insults, you've got nothing. No bite for your bark. Furthermore, excuse me if I don't take life planning advice from an unhappy grouch whose hobby it is to torment students and sulk about miserably."

Severus was taken aback by his student's outburst and needed a moment to collect himself, but the moment passed and Marley was striding towards the door.

"Oh and you are so much better?" Not allowing anyone to over hear this argument, Severus utilized their mind connection for his retort, "You walk around her with your own reputation: outcast by day and harlot by night. You think of yourself as such a people person because you have a charming smile and flirtatious personality, but people can't wait to be rid of you – not that you'd have it any other way." Within her mind, his words were malicious and cold, "At least I don't try to pretend that people don't care for me."

The witch made it to the door with her robe in hand, but she couldn't not have last word in this, "Analyzing my habits and spitting out an insult – how original?" she paused and looked him dead in the eye, "If I wanted my comeback, I would've wiped it off your mother's chin." A few steps and a slam of the door later and she was gone.

Behind his desk, Snape had no idea what to do with himself. Never before had a student said such comments to him. In fact, the last time someone had said something so harsh to him at all was when he was a teenager.

Everything was still for a moment, but then suddenly he slammed his fists on his desk so hard that a loud cracking echoed through the room and papers skidded to safety on the floor, "Damn it!"

#

It was beyond her understanding why every time she left Snape's room she was fuming. First it was over his nonsensical bull shit, then it was over his partially sensible bull shit, but now – now he had crossed a line, now he had brought up her family and friends; or rather her non-existent family and friends.

Desperate for a distraction, since she could feel herself spiraling towards a manic episode, the witch stalked back to her room, ignoring the stares and whispers. In place of their gossip, Marley saw her mother singing in the laundry room as she folded a freshly cleaned green comforter from her bed. In place of their lies, Marley felt a breeze across her shoulders as she roused the smell of tulips in the garden and freshly mowed grass from her memory.

She anxiously approached a window in her room, which was empty, her pace slowed as she realized that when she looked out she wouldn't see the gray haired figure of her father mowing. There was no window that had that particular image behind it.

Instead, she shut the window and pulled out her book bag. McGonagall had assigned an essay on the instances proper for transfiguring living things into inanimate objects. This was a lesson she taught years prior, but they had been reviewing ethics this semester as this year ended her education at Hogwarts with all the other seventh years.

It wouldn't be a hard essay and only had to be a foot long, but for some reason it rested on Marley's shoulders as if it were a midterm project or O.W.L. exam.

…Due to the risk and potential permanent damage it could cause to the live receiver of spell, transfiguring creatures and people into inanimate objects is considered a – a ….

The navy colored quill ceased scratching at the scroll as Marley contemplated the end of her thought. But a minute later, she still had no motivation to write down one more word. In fact, as the witch reviewed what she had already written, her eyelids grew heavy and the need for sleep became more pressing then doing homework.

Resolving to pick up the essay later, she set her quill, ink and scroll to the ground and curled up in her sheets after removing her shoes, socks and tie.

Little curls fell in front of her eyes to shield her eyes from the sunlight that came from the closed window. She tried desperately to shut out the present world by letting herself be swallowed by her favorite blanket she bought from home.

She inhaled to breathe in home, to bring back reality as she knew it, to remember their faces. Except that she completely filled her lungs without any of that. She exhaled and tried again. And again. And again. But there was only the bitter scent of Hogwarts.

"No." She thought. Even the thought was quiet and scared. A knot squeezed at her empty stomach, "no." A solitary tear trickled down her left cheek, "No!"

As if the blanket had betrayed her she cast the sea green comforter to the bottom of the bed. Instead she pulled her own legs up to her chest for comfort.

The urge to sleep had gone and her blue eyes searched the room desperately for something – anything that would allow this nightmare to end and reveal itself as just that – a terrible night terror.

Yet her frantic eyes stopped, without having found a sign of disbelief, but rather an exit strategy. It was a temporary one, but she couldn't find a better option.

Warily she looked over the large mahogany chest, not even questioning what she was about to do for a second.

#

Sitting in his chambers, Severus didn't feel much better since his student had left detention earlier. Really the only thing that changed about his demeanor was the alcohol sedation he'd given himself a few glasses ago to stop himself from breaking more things.

Nothing about this afternoon was going well at all. At the moment his thoughts were focused on the dilemma from earlier, but his inability to reign in Ms. Anderson was not the only issue present.

During his free period that morning, Severus had finally found a straight answer to his mission. He could practically recite the passage from his book from the Restricted Section:

"…while it can be a controversial practice it has been recorded two times in history of wizards absorbing elemental power from the moon. It was both times achieved by using the potion officially named 'Eulunatras' and consuming while three wizards or witches cast it's adjoining spell on the receiver…"  
Later on it proceeds to describe how both successful situations had perished by simply coming into full contact with the sun.

As much of a drawback as that would be, but the only thing the Dark Lord will hear is that he could do it and in extension, he could kill Harry Potter. No amount of persuading is going to change his mind either.

Yet Severus knew the second he realized that, that he'd have to try – no matter the consequence.

The Potions Master reclined in his arm chair and stared into the fire. The amber embers crackled and faded. He took a sip and remembered Lily. While it seemed she was ever present in his mind, recently he had been distracted from her memory.

The fire's flames seemed to exemplify the exact color of her hair. And his train of thought began. His first thought was of her reading beneath tree one afternoon when they were in their last year of school.

Her wavy hair was fire in the gleam of the setting sun. Lily's face was scrunched up as she read a particularly gruesome section of her novel.

But just as quickly as the pleasant memory rested within his mind, it snapped to a cold reality. As much as he wanted to go over and discuss her book – since he was the one who recommended it to her – Severus remembered that he couldn't get anywhere near her without her face twisting up and a bitter, "What?" greeting him.

The sour understanding that he burned the only bridge he ever really cared about the only bridge he ever really cared about sank in his heart as he sucked down the end of his fire whiskey. Just as it did every time he went through this cycle, the importance of protecting Potter and ending this war came to the fore front of his mind with a vengeance.

However the significance of his mission was not able to shake Severus of his dilemma with Marley. Instead of going into a tizzy about Marley again, Severus asked himself, "What would Lily do?"

It didn't take him long to come up with the conclusion that she would be patient and sympathetic to Marley and her issues whatever they may be – just as she had done so with him years ago.

He didn't like it, but some part of him fell the need to emulate her in this matter. Especially since it was probably the logical, levelheaded thing to do.

With a sigh Severus refilled his glass. By this point being nice was out of the question, but understanding he could try. If anyone could comprehend inner demons, it was he.

#

Only a small part of Marley felt any sort of caring that she'd get caught. No one else cared enough to check in on her or watch after her safety. Yet she wasn't prepared to fuel the fire of rumors if she did get caught, especially by another student – hence the small part.

Therefore the witch changed into her dark, almost skinny jeans with rips in them and a hoodie and stashing the bag in her pocket. Quietly she snuck around the corners of the castle until she reached the long hall of tapestries. It wasn't hard to sneak behind the terracotta blanket or to walk up the dimly lit stairs to the hidden balcony.

Rather the most difficult thing to do was to build up the nerve to actually do it. Up until the moment where the needle from the bag George had given her was filled with champagne colored liquid, Marley hadn't slowed her pace or stopped to think.

Within the witch's hand it was poised, ready to inject or to be cast aside, as she suddenly felt doubt contract her stomach.

The memory of Ryan came to the top of her conscience. Together the two of them sat on a wooden swing, rocking over a field of green weeds in a local park. While she couldn't remember what it was they were talking about before, she firmly recalled what he said next.

"I had a cousin of mine who died a bit ago." Ryan's hazel eyes cast out over the orchard grass.

Marley looked over at him, "I'm sorry to hear." She said for lack of better condolence.

He shrugged, "It's sad because he killed himself without leaving a clue as to why. Collin was such a happy guy, until his mom went to go talk to him in his room only to find him hanging in the closet."

The witch could hear him being calm and collected about it, but she could see how pained he looked by it – not like she could blame him, death is always tough. Instinctively she leaned up against him and wrapped her arms around his arm.

It took a few moments before he could continue, "I mean it wasn't like he was hit by a car, or sick, or anything; because then you can blame the careless driver or god or somebody - somebody else at least. Yet, with suicide, sometimes there's no one else to blame." He paused, "The guilt can just so easily flip onto yourself. Like I was supposed to spend the week at his house – when it happened – but I didn't like it there, it wasn't fun. It took me two years of me feeling so guilty that I had killed him by default before I could realize that nothing I would of done that one week would have put off the fierce depression that must have been raging within him for ages." Ryan's voice cracked just slightly, "I learned that you have to take the best out of a tragedy or the grief will swallow you whole."

Even though he wouldn't look at her, her blue eyes watched his carefully.

Since she didn't know what to say about all of this, she just waited for him to collect himself again and continue, "It's bittersweet, but I did change for the better because of Collin. I sat and watched as my family fell apart over his death. Then one day as I over heard my father – his uncle – crying, I knew I could never do that to my family. Whether or not he meant to, Collin hurt a lot of people and because I never want to do that, I promised myself and God that I would never do such a thing."

"That's profound." Marley whispered the only words of encouragement she could think of appropriate to the situation.

He gave a slight nod down to her, which ended with him gazing into her eyes, "I want you to promise too."

"Promise not do the same as Collin did?" She confirmed dumbly.

Ryan gave a little, relieving chuckle, "Well of course! While I would never let you get so sad that you would do such a thing, I want to make sure that if" he looked up at the sky in brief contemplation, "- if something awful happened and I wasn't around, I want you to never even consider that as an option. There are too many people who love you and would be absolutely be heart broken if you did." He paused and grinned before pulling her closer protectively, "Especially me. No one could, does or ever will love you more than I do."

A giddy eruption of butterflies in her tummy, reflected upon her facial expression, letting Ryan know in a silent way that she loved him too, "I promise." Marley whispered, pulling his lips to hers, "I promise, promise, promise."

Back on the balcony, that promise was being debated within her mind. While she never promised never to use recreational drugs, she was certain that it was implied that she shouldn't hurt herself in any form.

For her intents of the night, the witch chose to be ignorant of the implication. Just to be safe she squirted out a little so that there was absolutely no chance of an over dose, so that she could carefully not break her promise.

With no more reason not to, Marley took a breath, vowed no regrets and plunged the syringe into her blue vein. With a quick push of her thumb, she almost instantly felt the overwhelming loss of gravity and the blissful escaping her memory.

The last thing she saw in her mind's eye before the haze was entirely too much, was the image of Ryan smiling as he proudly boasted how much he loved her.

**A/N: As per usual, sorry for taking so long, but despite the dissatisfaction of many, I tend to update at a slow pace. I do not own the song Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri that I used as a title and inspiration for the chapter. Also, Please, please, please: review, review, review!**


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Come Home

The Right of Wrong Doings

The ten of them, were the only things out of place. All ten of his toes were visible, no shoes, no socks and it sat awkwardly in his chest to know that his feet were bare.

Severus looked about him, but his footwear was missing. Along with his cloak, his jacket, the school and everything that was supposed to be around him. Instead, he was wearing his black pants and his black button up and that was all. Instead, of having the moon and the stars hang over Hogwarts, they shone brightly over a beach. The moon set a gorgeous glare upon the crashing blue waves. No people were around, just himself and an off-white lifeguard stand.

Or so he thought. In front of him, on the water's edge was a woman, who caught his eye. She wasn't facing him and paid him no mind. Although, as he thought about it, the young woman probably didn't even know he was there.

The steady sea breeze flowed through her white dress, whose length was unknown, because she was sitting down. Her legs were curled up to her chest and her arms around her legs. Severus couldn't see her face, as her back was too him, so rather all he could see was her messy curls being pushed to the west with the wind.

Part of him wanted to go sit with her, as the view was breath taking. The serenity of the ocean at night was something he never indulged in, but what caught his eye were the stars. Never had he seen them so bright or so beautiful, nor had he ever seen the moon so big. It captivated his mind and his heart. Yet, what interested him more than the stars and the moon combined was the woman.

Without actually seeing her face, or fully taking her in, Severus knew she was beautiful. A much larger section of him, understood that this beautiful woman wouldn't want anything to do with him. Who would?

He resolved to just sit content on the abandoned lifeguard stand. The Potion Master's eyes followed her svelte silhouette. Something about those curves, that delicate figure, those curls seemed familiar, but he couldn't place it. In a distant memory it seemed that her name lay along with every encounter they may have only sort of had.

Severus tossed a stray hair out of his eyes and leaned back, settling into the aura of serenity that incased this beach, or maybe just her.

#

"Professor?"

"Professor, it's rather late."

"Professor Snape?"

From beneath his covers, Severus groaned, "I'm up damn it!"

The painting in the corner of the room looked both bored and terrified, "It's past the usual time you wake up. I thought you might want to know."

The sun was up, so clearly it was way past the usual time he woke up. Severus chose to simply ignore the painting and swiftly entered his bathroom to quickly take a shower and wake up.

As he went through an abbreviated version of his morning routine, the image of his dream kept racing through his mind. The ocean, the stars, the moon, the woman. Her. Still he couldn't place her.

As he swiftly stalked to the Great Hall, Severus damned that he had to be there, "Damn rules." He thought.

"Yes, let's damn them. Let's damn everything." Marley thought, although not necessarily to her Professor, but rather to the world.

Caught off guard, the Potions Master quickly looked about him and found Ms. Anderson walking towards the Great Hall, just thirty feet behind him.

Anger and irritation instantly rose to the surface of his emotions, but the dream had left in him in enough of a good mood that he could squelch those feelings, "Shouldn't you already be in the hall?"

Her pace never slowed and her eyes didn't even bother to look at him, "Shouldn't you?"

Severus shook off the comment and instead followed her into the loud, dense hall. His eyes merely scanned the students doing homework, the girls bickering and the guys horsing around. It was just the usual.

However as he turned to sit at his chair at the front of the hall, he noticed that Ms. Anderson hadn't walked past the archway. Inconspicuously she stood, tucked into a corner. His mind tried to feel a general emotion from her: fear.

"Fear of what?" he thought, not afraid she'd hear him, since she clearly had more pressing things on her mind.

A bite of bacon later and she was gone.

However, exiting the hall in a bit of a rush was Draco. The wheels turned in Severus's mind.

#

"Marley!" Draco called behind her, "Marley!"

Really she didn't want to talk to him, she wasn't in the mood to, but making a scene was further up on her Not-To-Do list, so she slowed down.

"Marley, Merlin!" The blonde wizard sighed, "Listen I didn't stand you up."

The witch just looked at him, expressing "Oh really?" precisely.

He nodded, "Well I did, but not intentionally. You see, my father sent for me and I had to go. I'm sorry, but he needed to discuss things with me."

She kept walking, feeling a little better knowing that. Well that was a lie. Her core felt numb and cold, but that was better than not feeling anything at all.

"Really, I like you a lot and I want to hear – or read – all about what a bastard Snape is and I want a second chance." Draco was pleading – an unfamiliar sight for her, given his usual arrogance.

Unphased, she kept walking, basically ignoring all of Draco's apology. Honestly she found someone – or rather something – that could listen way better than he ever could.

"Is one more shot really _that_ unreasonable?" He asked, his tenor voice hardening. Draco's hand reached out and pulled on hers, forcing Marley to stop.

Gently she freed her hand, but she did meet his eyes.

"Fine." Marley mouthed as a rock dropped in her stomach. Shamefully not because she actually wanted to spend time with him, not because she wanted to exert her energy to bitch about Snape through chicken scratch and hand gestures, not because she felt as if Draco could be the outlet she'd been previously searching for, but because her high last night was absolutely everything she could've hoped for. Her impulse control as of late hasn't been strong enough to convince Marley that she could withstand the urge to seek out the twins and get more. But if she was with Draco, she'd be forced to sit with him until he fell asleep or lost interest. That is if he bothered to show up this time.

"Excellent!" Draco gave a cocky grin, "You won't regret it! Tonight, after dinner, you and me." The wizard instructed.

Students began to file out of the Great Hall towards their first class and Draco excused himself to go be with them. Disgusted with herself, Marley shuffled to Herbology.

#

Class was boring. Not like he'd ever found it great fun or even remotely interesting, but everything was quiet, except for the continuous scratching of quill against parchment.

Severus looked about the classroom, no one – except maybe the Weasley twins – dared to try and cheat in his class, therefore all heads faced down and all students were busy. Even the little trouble witch, was working intently. It felt as if something was wrong.

"One of these things is not like the other." Severus thought.

His charge seemed her usual self. The messy bun atop her head was shaggier and her pale complexion a tad more sickly, but that was all.

Suddenly the heat of the room coursed through him, causing him to exhale and fidget in his seat, cursing the boiling cauldrons lining the room. Once the heat spell had passed, the Potions Master rested his eyes on his student once more. At that second he realized what was off about her: the sweater.

Every other student had rolled up their sleeves and loosened their ties to alleviate the stifling room. Except Marley. She sat with her sleeves of her sweater pulled as far as they would go and tucked into her palms.

"Peculiar." The Slytherin thought before feeling utterly ridiculous, "This is beyond reading too much into it." Severus reminded himself. His next thought was postponed as Ms. Anderson suddenly looked directly at him.

A slender eyebrow raised, "Take a picture – it'll last longer." Her voice echoed in his mind, before giving him a little wink.

"Ms. Anderson." Using his teacher voice, Severus responded aloud, "Your eyes are not on your own paper."

The witch's eyes narrowed as the attention of every student was diverted to her, but she dropped her smirk – simply as not to cause suspicion among her peers.

"Bring me your quiz." He articulated.

Compliantly, Marley walked her paper up to Severus, which made a loud clapping noise as he snatched the quiz from her.

Carefully his eyes analyzed her answers. It wasn't a perfect paper, but based on her previous work and these answers, he decided that she wasn't an A+ student, but she did know her way around a cauldron. That level of ability lined up accordingly with her answers.

Of course, Severus didn't actually suspect her of cheating, but he'd hoped to find something he could say to win this banter, or at least embarrass her enough that it was an automatic win. Yet, her smug expression told him that his efforts were for not.

"Sit down Ms. Anderson, we'll discuss your painful score at your next detention." Snape refused to portray an emotion with his instructions.

Somehow, Marley's intuition knew he was full of shit, "Painful because of those insults you have to swallow?" the witch retorted as she relaxed back into her seat.

The blood in his veins began to boil, as the class went back to work. He glared at her, determined to win something.

"I have plans this afternoon, so it seems that you'll be serving your detention tomorrow after class." The Professor thought to his stubborn student.

Marley rolled her eyes at the Friday detention, but at least she'd have the whole afternoon with Draco. Though, she wasn't sure she really wanted that.

#

As per the informed decision by the Headmaster, Severus, after ending classes that day, closed his lab up – so that in his absence nothing was at risk of blowing up or otherwise capable of injuring other staff, student or creature nearby.

Right after he attended dinner, though he was not hungry and merely poked his dinner about on his plate. Tonight he wasn't in the mood to spy on Marley, so not only was he disinterested in the mystery meat crawling around on his plate, but he also didn't have anything to distract him so that he would just stab it unmercifully.

Finally, after a half hour of torture he was dismissed and instead of storming back to his quarters for a drink he waltzed with Dumbledore. It was not his choice to move so slowly, but at the Headmaster's experienced age he felt the need to walk at a careful, thoughtful pace.

"So Severus how is Ms. Anderson doing?"

The Potions Master's mood had not changed since five seconds ago; therefore he had to stifle the urge to groan at the mention of her name.

"Crabbily." Was his only monotone response.

The headmaster was intrigued by this and cast a curious look at his employee.

"Apparently Ms. Anderson has many opinions she wished to voice, but now that that ability is no longer hers, she insists on taking her aggression out on me." Severus paused in thought – he had been meaning on consulting Dumbledore, now was just a good a time as ever, "Sir, she's honestly a terror."

The Headmaster gave a whimsical chuckle, "Do you mean to tell me that she's too much for your disciplinary skill set?"

Severus's expression expressed the displeasure the comment had on him while silently conveying that he was enough of a man to put this girl in her place.

The duo ascended to Dumbledore's office.

"I didn't expect her to be easy after this summer. Which is specifically why I charged her with you." Dumbledore grinned, "I feel as if you two are quite compatible…"

Even though the Potions Master was not facing Dumbledore dead-on, he could sense his eyes were twinkling.

"Ahh well." Dumbledore simply responded.

#

For Severus these meetings were typically pretty boring – given his position, most of the information being shared was second hand or unexpected or both.

It was usually a big circle of discussion depending on who has done what, everyone goes around the table and discusses what they've learned.

The method Severus uses is keeping one ear on the conversation and his mind in the clouds.

Arthur Weasley was speaking while Severus was contemplating Marley's next punishment when he heard something not right.

"…the number of people resisting our recruitment in the ministry is disturbing. Especially the higher up we reach. I suspect 50 or more people have been newly recruited to the Dark Lord."

"That's incorrect." Severus stated.

The whole table averted their eyes to him.

"What do you mean?" Arthur asked.

"The Dark Lord has significantly slowed his efforts on the Ministry as of late. The recruitments are maybe a quarter of that." Severus informed.

"Is that so?" Sirius pried, resting his goblet on the table, "How do you know?"

"He told me."

"How do you know that you're not being kept out of the loop? How do you know your position has not been compromised?" Sirius's voice was bitter after years of loathing Snape.

"Sirius!" Molly scolded from her place at the sink. She knew he was looking to pick a fight just as everyone else knew.

"Well, dog, I'm very good at what I do, but I'm sure we could find holes in your mission – oh wait." Severus shot back.

Sirius's face grew dark.

"Enough." Remus raised his voice and relaxed the next moment as to keep the focus on the topic at hand, "Severus, why is he redirecting himself?"

Severus leaned forward, "Remembrandt has intrigued the Dark Lord with the idea of elemental power to increase his own and take over that way."

Moody cut in, "That's not possible – those who try get burnt out."

"That's why when Rembrandt pointed out that the moon merely reflects a portion of the sun and can use it's diluted power to safely obtain the sun's natural magic, the Dark Lord was enticed."

"Alright, what's his new plan then?" Remus inquired again.

"As of the moment there isn't one, because it was asked of me to research this idea given my access to Hogwarts' library."

"And?" Moody barked.

Severus furrowed his brow in frustration since he kept being interrupted, "It is. I've read extensively on it. Two people have pulled it off using a ritual. The catch is that direct contact with the sun will make him fry. Despite the huge inconvenience, I'm inclined to believe the Dark lord will be both excited and anxious to do this. Mostly because losing the little battles recently ahs left him frustrated and feeling as if the plan he's got is a failing one." Severus explicated.

"I'm not so certain." Kingsley interjected, "That is a huge weakness to have, if he feels that his plan is failing as is, this risk may make him forgo such an experimental magic."

Remus nodded an Alaster grunted.

"We could use that to out advantage." Arthur thought aloud, "if Severus could persuade him to have this magic, then it could make a final battle more attainable and with fewer casualties."

The room went silent for a moment as everyone took this in.

Remus was the next to speak, "we mustn't think Voldemort will be stupid about this. He's going to take extra precaution. Especially if this elemental magic will make him stronger, it could double and triple his defenses."

"More than that." The Potions Master spoke once more, "Tens of times more. Of all the elements the sun is the strongest." He both informed and reminded.

It seemed that suddenly everyone turned to Albus for guidance.

The old wizard made no eye contact for a minute but instead seemed to be searching for wisdom in a spot just above the stove.

"Severus," the Headmaster spoke at last, "When is he going to put this into effect?"

In a monotone voice he replied, "I expect as soon as I brief him on my findings."

There was a pause again, "This is a decision that requires thought. In the mean time, Severus, I want you not to influence him. If he asks for your opinion – favor proceeding with it."

"Headmaster!" Molly almost cried out. "He's not going to just use his power to protect himself – imagine the damage he could do single-handedly! And the magnitude of people he'll kill and enslave! People will be more afraid to fight than ever!" Severus could practically see the images of her dead children flashing across her mind.

"Either way everyone is in danger." Albus' usual cheery voice was lost and he spoke with a n almost grave intonation, "But it seems that this new plan leaves plenty of holes to intervene with. Maybe without a huge final battle."

"Especially since he wants this to be over by the winter holidays." Severus added in.

Everyone at the table gave Severus their opinions at once through facial expression. Some were relieved knowing that the war could be over by then. Some were horrified because they had been dreading a showdown and the major loss associated with it. Everyone else looked as Severus always felt – in need of a drink.

Remus was the next to speak, "I don't think it is wise to let our next course of action be decided upon by Voldemort. " He laid his hands out on the table. "We need to be in control at every step if we want to win.

"I agree with Remus," Sirius added, "We're too close to handle this opportunity half-assed. I say we use this sudden fluctuation to get all the cards in our hands before Voldemort knows they're being dealt. We need to get Severus to push for the elemental power so that in the mean time we can find a way to fry him with it."

Arthur rejoined the conversation, "it doesn't seem safe to do that. If we can't make absolutely certain that he won't get out of our realm of control, then we could end up facilitating his victory."

Leaning back in his chair, Severus listened with his one ear what ended up being an hour-long discussion of which course of action to take. And at the end of that hour, still no consensus was found. However, the majority of the more aggressive members at the table seemed to think that endorsing this new plan of action would be the best.

Feeling no preference, Severus spent the hour pondering something the Headmaster mentioned earlier about Ms. Anderson, _"__I__didn__'__t__expect__her__to__be__easy__after__this__summer.__"_

"What could that mean?" He thought, "What happened over the break that would reasonably result with such behavior?"

Since Severus and Albus had to work early the next morning, as well as others at the table, the meeting was dismissed.

#

At dinner, Draco was fidgeting. Every time Marley looked beside her at him, he anxiously smiled.

After getting through half her meal, which she was ravenous for, Marley couldn't take it and just stared at him until he talked.

He met her glance and grinned like a fool, "We're still on tonight, right?"

She gave a little nod and he joyously took a bite of broccoli.

"I have a plan." She gave him a look that invited him to explicate the aforementioned plan. "I have an essay to write for tomorrow and while I finish it, you'll sit next to me and in detail scratch down every horrible thing that happened between you, Katie and Snape."

Marley didn't feel any better than she had that morning. However, the hope she had from the first time they were supposed to meet came back to her.

"I'll read over it and we'll discuss it and then whatever else comes to your mind – because I know if I were in your place – I'd have a whole myriad of thing I'd been dying to say." Draco continued.

The witch's eyes rolled back in an "Oh Merlin you don't even know" way.

At this he chuckled.

She turned back to her meal and as she chewed, Marley's eyes wandered up to the Staff table where, to her delight, Snape was angrily staring down his meal. In the pit of her stomach the aching darkness retracted just a little bit.

When the students in the Great Hall began to stand up to leave, she and Draco followed suit with them. In the big crowd, they shuffled through hallways down to the dungeons.

As they broke away from the Gryffindors and about five students wandered through the dungeon halls, Draco's hand brushed against hers. Once, twice and on the third time he hooked his pinky with hers.

Marley wanted no part in being romantic with Draco, but the gesture felt nice, so she flexed her hand and allowed all his fingers to interlock with hers.

Through the wall and into the commons and up to his prefect bedroom, Draco's hand pulled her.

"Typically," he said, "I use this because it's efficient and easier, but given the circumstances you may use it."

The quill began to tremor in her palm, so she relaxed her grip.

"It writes the words that you think. You have to concentrate because it requires complete attention otherwise it starts to scribble down nonsense." Draco explained.

She watched the quill as he spoke.

Marley Anderson

Just as Draco had said, her thoughts appeared on the notebook.

"Excellent." The blond wizard grinned once more.

This time Marley practically could feel his positive endorphins spill into her.

"I'll be over here. You could just toss a pillow at me if you need me." He chuckled at that.

The witch swore to herself she had never seen him so happy. After she was done leering at him, she lay down on her stomach and looked at the notebook.

Where to start?

"Shit." Marley said more to her inner conscience, careful not to let her mind write that down on the paper.

I suppose the beginning of the summer holiday when I met Ry.…

The quill hesitated over the paper for a moment. Marley looked up at the back of Draco's head as he studiously scratched away at his scroll.

Intentionally Marley hadn't written down in letter form nor in essay form about her summer break while she was away. It was one of those things best said in person and the witch then wanted her two best friends to hear what happened directly from her lips.

An image of Ryan appeared in her mind, his white smile and guitar. Behind him her mom and dad, before her eyes clouded over with tears building.

"What happened is too important. Too much to condense into a page or two of a notebook." The witch decided. It broke her heart; the hope squashed again. Marley could practically see Draco reading about them and feeling bad, but that wasn't understanding. It was one of those things necessary to hear word of mouth. "They're worth more than to be written down in a half-ass reflection." Marley decided.

Five minutes passed as she battled with her need to let someone in on her misery and her need to cherish her loved ones.

At last she let the quill hover over the notebook again as it scratched out what was already written down.

Katie's a bitch. It all started when she concocted this plan…

The looming darkness in her stomach grew again as she omitted the summer again. But she focused that darkness into the quill as she wrote out her side of the fight, the side that Katie wouldn't let Marley share to begin with, Theo hitting on her, Snape over hearing the fight. Each word should have comforted her to have them said, but seeing her thoughts on paper didn't change anything within her.

And since the fight, people have given me sideway looks

because of Katie's twisted truth. I can't take it anymore.

When the witch looked up from reading over what she wrote, Draco was watching her. She recognized the look of admiration on his face from one Ryan wore and Marley had to avert her eyes. Tonight was becoming too emotional. In order to get his pupils of her, she handed him the notebook.

Not to her surprise, he took it from her and brought it back to the bed where he sat next to her and began to read.

At first his expression was neutral; she watched him read and his face grew angry. His eyebrows furrowed, his eyes hardened and his lips pursed.

The paragraph came where Marley wrote about Theo grabbing her ass and his eyes shot up at her.

In that split second, the second thought she should have had earlier about ripping on Theo and showing it to his buddy, came to her. Suddenly she worried if Draco wouldn't believe her either. Suddenly she worried if he'd side with Theo. Suddenly she worried that she'd lose her only friend left in the world.

"He did this?" His words were coarse.

Slowly Marley nodded.

"I could kill him."

The witch wasn't sure if this answer was better than him being upset at her. But instead of just letting him rant, Marley put her hand on his chest, in a soft calm manner.

Draco examined her. Her svelte body seemed to curl into itself and she looked broken. Though it killed him to know that one of his best mates betrayed him, it seemed more important that he squelch his fury until later. For right now, he felt he needed to be there for the witch beside him.

Draco reached out his arm and pulled Marley into a hug. Her head rested on his chest and she began to tear up.

The witch loathed crying, but she couldn't help herself. The memories she'd been suppressing had come too close to the surface. They came too close and burned her again.

But worst of all the gnawing feeling to shoot up crawled into her mind causing the tears to turn to sobs.

A/N: Sorry guys this took so entirely too long to post. I have a buddy whose been pushing me these past two weeks so I will try to update weekly with her help. Please review and tell me what you think!


	14. Sail

Chapter 13

The Right of Wrong Doings

Sail

It had been a tiresome day at work. Severus leaned back against his chair behind his desk. Despite working practically non-stop since after lunch grading papers, the stack in front of him seemed to be no less short then when he began.

The hours of the afternoon began dwindling by until all that was left was Ms. Anderson's detention and dinner. Neither seemed particularly appealing. Quite frankly he was burnt out from Ms. Anderson. Mercifully she had been quiet during his class today. There was always an annoying tune in her head, but there was no bickering, back-sassing or badgering since their last showdown.

The professor hoped detention would be the same.

His student strolled into his room five minutes later. She rested against a table.

Severus looked up from his papers at his charge. Her eyes were gazing out of a window at the side of the room.

"I've almost run out of tasks for you"

"Almost." She repeated, understanding that that statement didn't get her out of doing work.

"It's not what I usually do, but you have a choice." Severus said to her as he rose form his chair and glided over to her, "Either you can go down to the lake with me and collect saliva from the creatures there for future lessons or you can help me grade first year quizzes and tests."

It was an easy choice for Marley – walk 4 feet to a desk inside or a lot farther in the brisk peaking winter air to stick her hands in a freezing lake. "We can stay here and grade." She said.

Her professor nodded and escorted her to his desk. He pulled out an extension to his desk and told her to get a chair. Taking half of is pile and putting it on the extension, "Here are the keys to the assignments. Do not intentionally give a student a false grade or I will see to it that you will endure a severe suspension and punishment or expulsion all together."

"You look like you're hoping I do that." Marley said.

He didn't respond.

Marley wasn't even angry at that. Actually she entertained the idea of being expelled. It sounded marvelous to be out of this place and away from these people.

But just as fast as the fantasy came, it was gone. If Marley hoped to receive any sort of supporting job after graduation, she needed to have that degree. The witch was discontented with the thought that she could hardly take her dreams into account anymore. She just couldn't afford to have any.

Whilst she graded these papers with Snape, she pondered life in a few months. How different and foreign her life had and would become.

The potions masters sat beside her completely and utterly confused. As she was next to him, Marley wasn't annoying. There was no crappy teenage music, no bickering. He could feel her thinking, but for the most part her could block it out.

Severus wanted to get into the zone of grading. He wanted to get this stuff done so he could get dinner over with and have a drink. However his mind would not allow his attention to focus solely upon his work. Instead he found his train of thought retreating to the witch beside him.

Not only was he curious as to her attitude change, but also her thoughts. He could feel her thinking. Ever so much did he want to open up the mental barrier between them. Severus wanted to hear her thoughts and understand them. He wanted to immerse himself in her consciousness.

Halfway through an essay he was half reading; it struck him how absurd he was being. What possible, logical reason he could have for wanting this? Fear coursed through his heart as he realized he had lost control. He had lost control in the presence of someone who could very well hear his thoughts if he wasn't careful.

Frozen in his spot Severus thought about all the dangers she posed to him in her state. Marley could hear details about the war that she could share with dangerous people without even knowing it being a foolish girl. But then it occurred to him that she could overhear something much more terrifying: Severus thinking about her.

How awful would it be if she were to learn that he had a deep desire to enclose himself in her thoughts?

"Alright." His sharp tone pierced the quiet air, "You're done. Leave."

Quite frazzled Marley merely stared at him, "What?"

"I've had enough of your detention you may go."

"What did I do!" The student demanded more than asked.

"Really? You foolish girl. I'm letting you leave detention on a Friday early and you're going to fight about semantics over it?" Her professor sighed in exasperation.

Marley would have stayed and fought any other time, but truth be told it was a Friday and she wasn't about to make herself stay any longer than necessary.

The witch left the room wordlessly a minute later, however the tension in Severus's chest did not. For a long while after she left he could only stare into the empty room, consoling his thoughts.

Slowly Marley walked back to the Slytherin commons. She had no idea what to do. There was always homework, "But why do it now when I could do it later?" The witch reasoned.

A loud, but smooth laugh broke Marley's thoughts or lack there of. Draco turned the corner with a fellow Slytherin, who Marley recognized as Marcus a 6th year, "I would expect that to put him in his place." Draco smirked.

"Put him in his place – he all but pissed himself." Marcus gleamed.

Upon seeing his favorite witch Draco turned to his mate," Right then – catch you tonight."

Marcus nodded and departed down the passage leading to the Great Hall.

"Naughty, naughty – you're supposed to be in detention young lady. As a prefect I'm not sure I'll be able to over look this." He teased.

In a response Marley winked as she matched Draco's pace towards a different hallway.

"Seriously though, Snape's going to be pissed." Draco's voice dropped as a serious tone entered the conversation.

Marley shook her head and made a face representing, "Nah."

Her partner looked at her confused. "It's one of those needs-explanation-things isn't it?"

Her expression was damaged by her inability to contribute, which was suitable enough response for Draco as any other, to know that it was.

Draco was silent for a little while since he had successfully ruined the happiness of the conversation.

"Oh!" He thought, "Marley – there's a party tonight in the dungeons, that Marcus and his friends are hosting. I was gonna go – do you want to go with me?" He paused to look at her face, "Maybe as my date?"

Everything had actually sounded nice, right up until the date part. She felt the figurative band-aid on her heart stretch. It was too soon for this. Really a party would be a bad idea since the Twins would probably be there too. But Marley couldn't help but think that might be a reason to go.

She brushed a dangling curl out of the way and clearly articulated the word "friends" to him.

"Friends." Draco confirmed, though he sounded put off, "Friends." He repeated, but with a smile, "Sounds good too me."  
They turned to the right and Marley noticed that Draco had taken her to the commons.

"After dinner tonight you come back here and get ready and when you're all done I'll be in front of the fire place waiting for you."

The witch couldn't help, but smile at him, "okay." She mouthed.

With that he said the password for Marley though she no longer needed help with that since her magic was slowly getting better. By the time she passed through the wall the wizard had already sauntered back down the passage.

Truth be told Marley had zero desire to go to dinner. Though her stomach growled ferociously there was nausea in her that came every time she thought about food.

Instead Marley retreated to a nice warm shower. Since everyone was at dinner the showers were empty. Under the hot, steamy stream of water she felt at ease.

Showers, throughout her life had always been as healing to her as a long, restful sleep. That had not changed now. The witch's mind cleared as she scrubbed Herbal Essences into her scalp.

It seemed in the 3 by 3 cubicle everything was less awful. Snape was less vexing, Draco's affection more manageable, and her pain shallower. By the time she had finished her usual shower routine, Marley actually felt happy.

In her towel, brushing her teeth, the witch saw movement in the corner of her eye that scared the death out of her. She flinched and spun around, thrusting her arm out to protect herself in the general direction of movement. There was an unexpected explosion of tile and cement that caused her to duck and cover her head.

Her nerves eased and Marley observed Bernard screech and scurry away. Normally she would've chased after him, but Marley was distracted by the large hole in the wall and bits of wall fragments on the ground.

She spit her toothpaste in the sink and slowly walked over to the wall. Her fingers slid against the jagged edges. She had done this. Up until now her magic had been minimal and unpredictable. This was unpredictable, but definitely not minimal.

Taking a step back she out stretched her hand once more.

"Repairo." Marley chanted in her head, trying to channel the energy she had when she gauged the wall.

Like magic – or rather – magically the pieces on the floor rose to the hole and seamlessly returned to their original spot. Astonished Marley just stood there. Had she really just mastered wand-less, wordless magic? Not being able to stare at the wall any longer the witch gathered her things numbly and walked half dazed to her room. There Bernard seemed to have recovered from his traumatic experience and was now contently licking his crotch on her bed.

Instead of immediately getting dressed the witch felt the need to lay on her bed with Bernard and cuddle. She had certainly missed his companionship. Marley began to hear the voice of people coming back from dinner, so quickly she got up and got dressed.

For no reason other than she felt like it, the witch got dressed in a leopard print to dress, that very acutely portrayed her svelte curves, and a leather jacket and black heels.

She scrunched her curls and put on makeup before petting Bernard by enjoying down the stairs to the Commons.

Draco was where he said he'd be, hands in his pockets staring the fire. She was halfway down the stairs when he saw her in front of three girls Marley new had a major crush on him he hobbled Marley, " you – you look – you're beautiful."

This earned her disapproving looks from peers, but she couldn't help but blush a little – causing Draco to smirk. After Paul's were Draco gave her another book over he said, "Shall we?"

Out of the Commons, she rights and the left later they reached a portrait of a Renaissance woman in a dark green down, she looked at them with a devilish smirk and turning so that they could see the bottle of poison she concealed behind her.

" Helvetica." Draco greeted.

She merely winked at some sort of mutual arcana and moved to the side. Pulling on her hand, Draco set to the black background portrait Marley in tot.

The witch was only in the dark for a second before she emerged into a very crowded dungeon room.

Unlike the other party, space this one had a classier air. All the guests were semi formally dressed. There was a real person behind the bar, there were side rooms the stolen couches for optional privacy and actual bar stools. Music again was provided by a student DJ, yet the pop and hip-hop was done away with and instead there was dub-step, rock and hard alternatives. These genres accented the dark room and smashed together the dancers.

"Do you want something to drink?" Draco managed to ask over the imposing music.

The witch nodded.

Over at the bar Marley heard Draco ask for a rum and coke for her, but she stopped him.

"What?" He asked.

The witch pointed up.

The wizard looked up at the ceiling and then back to her "Up?" she shook her head, "More?" again she shook her head. Looking at the bar he said, "Harder?"

Marley nodded this time. Her good mood left her wanting o party hard.

"Er…" He turned to the guy behind the bar, "something harder." He paused and looked at smiling Marley, "Two shots of jagermeister and two jack and cokes."

The barkeep nodded.

A moment later the shots were in front of them and Draco held his up to his date, "To going big or going home."

She mimed a laugh, clinked their glasses and knocked it back.

Picking up their red cups, Marley lead Draco to the dance floor. There they migrated toward the center where couples were practically fucking.

The deep, sexy bass set the mood for sensual grinding. Marley remembered whath appened last tiem with Ryan and made the distinction that she was not here to allure Draco anymore, but just to have fun. She was not betraying Ryan. Draco and she were just friends.

With that clarification in her mind Marley was less bothered by Draco and their grinding. The blonde placed his hand on her hip and pressed firmly. Between the well-compacted crowd and Draco, Marley's ass was pressed right up against Draco. Jack Daniels distracted her from fighting against it. Her hips swayed and ground against him without second thought.

As the night progressed so did they. Drink after drink, Marley found herself caring not at all about Draco and her sexual disposition.

Draco's hands began to wander after the third drink. After about 4 drinks his hand moved up from her hip to her boob and would drop down to her ass cheek and back.

Awolnation came across the speakers and all Marley could process was the music blaring in the room, "Sail!" she attempted to yell, "Sail!"

The strobe lights flashed white and Marley opened her eyes. Righta cross from her was Katie. She looked like a whore. Wearing a tube top, booty shorts and heeled boots. Having Theo pounding against her ass as she bent over only added to the look.

It could have been the booze, but Marley's whole demeanor changed upon seeing her ex-best friend. The anger, frustration and sadness rushed back to her. Every care in the world that had disappeared with Jack came back to noticed Marely's rhythm falter, "What's wrong baby" he shouted just to whisper in her ear, "Want another drink?"

She watched Katie slut herself all over Theo. It disgusted her. No longer was she able to enjoy herself. Heroine tugged on her mind, then the thirst for it.

"Babe?" Draco asked again before kissing her neck.

She turned and feigned a smile at him, before exiting the mosh pit. She was relieved to find Draco didn't follow her.

It was a rash decision, but Marley searched the room. Her eyes locked on Fred off to the left side toward the back.

Fred gave her a cocky grin and escorted her into a back room.

"Look what the cat dragged in!" George laughed and walked over to her. In the room the music was muffled and the lights brighter, but still dim none-the-less.

People were stoned in a circle laughing and drinking. There were also two people in the corner who were dazed and glazed over after using something a bit stronger.

Marley staggered a bit as she walked toward George in the center of the room.

"Back for more?" Fred grinned.

She put her head down, not wanting to nod and beg.

"This one is gonna cost ya." George explained.

Marley's eyes shot up. She didn't have any money at all, let alone on her. Draco paid for her to get into the party.

"I can see that's a problem." George added.

They looked at her and the drunken desperation on her face.

"Ya know George-"

"What Fred"

"We could work something out."

"We do take something other than galleons." George took a step closer to her and ran a finger up from her belly button to her chest.

"That we do Fred."

The witch swallowed and looked over at the pot smokers in a circle.

"She's got stage fright." Fred noted.

"Grab a drink guys!" George dismissed them and with a bit of grumbling they left – a drink is never turned down the witch supposed. After five minutes they were alone except for the two in the corner who had no conscious recognition of what was going on around them.

Marley tugged at her dress uncomfortably. What had she gotten herself into?

"Here's what we propose," George began, "You do what you think you can do and we'll give you what we think that payment is worth."

The twins smirked. They seemed evil in this moment. Marley slowly took off her jacdropped to her knees.

Her hands went to George's belt and undid his pants, pulling out his raging boner.

Fred began to leave thinking George would be going first, but Marley reached out and grabbed his pant leg before he could get away.

"Ho, ho, ho!" George gleefully shouted, "Two at once! What a naughty girl!"

After undoing Fred's pants similarly, Marley's stomach dropped. This was too much. Why was she so desperate?" Placing one hand on each dick and her mouth on one, sucking, then switching to the other, Marley tried to detach her mind from her body.

#

When they finished – in her mouth of course, the taste was bitter awful and brought her to the verge of puking – Marley felt inwardly relieved and sickened.

The witch quickly as she could brought herself up right again, slipping into her jacket and wrapping her arms around herself.

The duo was quiet for a little bit, riding the high of experience. Finally George reached into his pocket and pulled out two little baggies. Upon seeing the eggshell colored powder, the yearning rose to the top of Marley's drunken mind causing her hands to reach out for the bags.

Already the curly haired witch was happy with what she received, but Fred also reached into his pocket and pulled out two tablets, "Take these tonight if you want a high, wait until you're sober to use the heroin."

This was a set back. Marley just wanted to curl up with a needle, but the look on Fred's face made it clear that was no longer an option. Just like the shot earlier Marley knocked back the chalky tablets. Sticking the bags into her boobs, Marley took one last glance at the twins before booking it out of the room.

#

What was it that was so pleasant? The rhythm, the calming sound? No. It was definitely the heat. The warmth was so wonderful, everything else about her hurt, but this warmth eased it somehow Her knees ached with inflammation, her eyes pounded from her pulsating brain and skull.

Deeply she inhaled and discovered her lungs burned as well. As a result her exhale of carbon dioxide came out with ragged coughs.

A warm hand patted her back, "You alright?"

Draco. It was Draco.

The witch opened one eye and discovered she was in his room.

"Hmm?" He kissed the back of her neck.

Marley twisted a bit. She was spooning with Draco. How did she get here? Why was she here? Instead of being under covers however, there was just paper and colored pencils everywhere. She couldn't decide if this was just more confusing or just reassuring.

A thirty degree turn of her head further and she noticed Draco's eyes were open and watching her movements.

"Don't look at me like that, this was all your doing." He said.

Marley sat up and observed the mess. A pale hand reached out at a top most paper. It had a beautiful image of a beach on it. Dark blues, purples, blacks and excellent use of accenting ivory displayed the quiet, nighttime scene. She remembered a dream that looked exactly like this from only a week or two ago.

Beneath that paper was a few more ragged versions of the same picture. Taking the best copy, she showed it to her companion, hoping for clarification.

"Do you not remember? I suppose you wouldn't. You left me for an hour and you come back high as a kite." Draco said, almost disappointed, "I found you at the bar and we danced for all of five minutes before you dragged me back to the commons where you went to your room and came back with the paper and the pencils. You kept trying to tell me something, but you wouldn't just write it down, you insisted on drawing and gesturing. So we sat on my bed and chained smoked cigarettes while you drew these."

He took the picture from Marley's hand and examined it, "I fell asleep before you finished this particular picture." He paused and gave a little grin, "I didn't know you were an artist." Again he looked over the idyllic image, "What is it of?"

Her hands reached over and grabbed a scrapped paper and wrote, "A dream" on it.

"Why did you want to show it to me so badly?" Draco asked pulling a paper scrap out of Marley's knotted curls.

She simply shrugged.

It wasn't a particularly special dream. It's just one she kept having after she shot up for the first time. There were so many questions Marley had and it scared her to know she didn't know so many of the answers.

Author's Note: So much I wanted to put into this chapter however I feel I must divide it in two. THE NEXT CHAPTER IS A MUST READ! Please, please, please review! I want to know what you guys think good or bad. Also. I entitled this chapter Sail after the song by AWOLNATION, which I do not have the skill, right nor ability to possess.


	15. Situations  Eventually

Chapter 14

The Right of Wrong Doings

Situations

Being school policy and the awkwardness she felt about spooning with Draco, Marley made herself decent with fresh clothes and a shower before dragging herself to breakfast.

Immediately after the distraction of waking up in a weird place, with an unlikely man and a whole evening blurred out of her memory, the witch realized she had an ungodly hangover. When she got the overwhelming scent of eggs and bacon from the Great Hall, she was afraid all the alcohol and whatever else she swallowed last night would dump all over the brunette first year sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table.

Biting her lip and closing her eyes, the witch overcame the sensation and seated herself next to a patiently waiting Draco, allowing Bernard to jump into her lap.

"You left this in my room." A few girls from across the table perked their heads up at this comment, but the duo ignored them, "I don't mind stashing away the rough drafts, but I figured you would want the good copy." He said slipping the scenery picture into her hands.

The witch smiled. She should be used to his abnormal behavior towards her by now, but Marley was once again stunned by the kindness Draco never expressed around her before this year. It killed her to lead him on, but he had become her only real friend and she couldn't let go of that. Marley had come to understand in a matter of two months that the relationships people have with each other is the only thing people really have at all. Things come and go, but relationships are irreplaceable; not even relationships can replace other relationships. As she stared at Draco she felt the blatant reality that she had been trying to fix all her broken connections with her friends and family with him. Her cheek squished into a half grin as a feeling of hopelessness sunk in with the loneliness in the crowded great hall.

She made herself a cup of tea – which seemed like the only thing at the table her stomach wouldn't lurch at. As she sipped her tea, she gave the illustration a hard look.

It was a dream she'd been having, but why did she draw it? Yet, the bigger question was where did this skill come from? Being an avid Arts student in her free time, she wasn't unfamiliar with a sketching pencil, but her fascination was dance, not drawing. And she was good, but this was far beyond her skill level. Did being high enhance her abilities? It sounded ridiculous, but it seemed to be the only plausible conclusion.

#

Up at the faculty table, Severus was ready to lose his breakfast all over Minerva. Other than his face turning a little paler (a hardly an abnormal shade for him), he made no physical tell that he was immobilized by fear of retching in front of everyone.

Closing his eyes to either avoid looking at the half eaten sausage or prevent the suddenly obnoxious sunlight from burning his retinas. Severus tried to think of what was going on with his body. He was briefly reminded of the awful hangovers he used to get, but it's been years. He's been an experienced drinker and has had his tolerance well built up for a while. Besides he drank no more than he usually did the night before, maybe he hadn't had nearly enough. Was he going through withdrawal?

He opened his eyes as the nausea passed. His charcoal eyes aimlessly scanned the hall. Suddenly they stopped at his charge. She sat gracefully poised – a mug in one hand and a piece of paper in the other. Her curls cascaded off her shoulders and down her back. Her pink lips were pursed slightly as the wheels turned visibly in her head. And as painfully bright as it was, the sun glimmered across her pale chest and face.

For a moment his thoughts were suspended as his eyes took in various details about her. Then the moment passed and Severus began to put the puzzles pieces together and realized it was her inexperienced hangover that was crippling him.

"Must you inflict your miseries on me?" He thought, causing her to jolt up in her seat.

She turned and looked at him, recollecting her composure, "Yes."

"So you are hung over?"

Marley was stunned for a moment and slowly responded, "Students aren't permitted to participate in activities that would cause getting hung over."

"So you are. Brilliant."

Marley didn't respond.

"The rings are shoving your pain into my head!"

The witch didn't try hard to suppress a grin, "Then take it off! My brain would covet the privacy!"

That was a simple solution that Severus felt silly about not thinking of by himself. Without considering any sort of repercussions he reached down and attempted to yank the ring off. But regardless of how much he pushed and pulled it would move beyond his knuckle, "It's not coming off."

"Is it too small?" Marley asked, masking her nervousness – what if it didn't come off?

"No it just won't slide off."

That was all the necessary prompting the witch needed to attempt to remove her own ring with the same results.

"What's wrong with them?" Marley asked, frustrated and scared; her thoughts jumping to the terrors of being connected to Snape for the rest of eternity.

Severus didn't know, they weren't his idea and he didn't know anything about them other than what he had discovered in this crash course with Ms. Anderson. He felt like a wanker in this moment, realizing he did no background work before submitting himself to this obligation.

Since Severus was not in the habit of admitting aloud that he didn't know an answer he said, "The Headmaster would know better than I."

"Are you going to ask him?" Marley pressed anxiously.

"Yes and before you go, there will be no need for your presence. At lunch I'll tell you what I've learned."

Marley was annoyed by her Professor not letting her go see the Headmaster herself, she wanted to hear it from his lips but she didn't protest. After a minute of thought she asked, "Isn't he going to be bothered by us taking them off?"

But Severus was tired of her questions and tuned her out.

#

Severus was walking towards the Headmaster's office after breakfast when outside of the golden bird he spotted Minerva in a huff, walking away from Dumbledore's office.

"Something the matter Minerva?" Severus asked, not because he cared about her problems, but because he wanted to know if there was something wrong concerning Dumbledore.

Professor McGonagall was taken aback as Severus was usually only civil towards her and she merely returned the same, but she responded anyway, "I came to talk to Albus about some students and he tells me he's got urgent business outside of the castle and he'll be gone all day." She sighed, "I adore the man, but sometimes he makes it very difficult to get work done." With that she stormed away down the hall.

Realizing Potter and Dumbledore must be horcrux hunting, Severus decided that he'd have to go to the library to find the answers he'd hoped the Headmaster would tell him.

The Potions Master was surprised to find only one book in the whole library – and in fact the same book Albus read the incantation from – had any information on the rings. Beyond that there was only a small paragraph on them. The majority of the text discussed the process of creating the rings and if done successfully what they would look like. Then it stated "the purpose of the rings is to bond the subjects until the dividing factor is eliminated."

The professor read and reread the passage a few more times to find no more understanding than the first time, "Dividing factor?" He thought, "There's a million dividing factors between she and I, but given that they enabled thoughts to be portrayed telepathically, the dividing factor must refer to her inability to speak."

This was frustrating to the Professor because the only accomplishments that he had made with Ms. Anderson were ones to cope with her disability, but nothing to actually repair her mute condition. According to this book, only when she can speak again will the rings come off.

Since the book was not useful at all, Severus thought he might tap the only other resource in the library that might shed some light on the subject.

Madam Pince was standing beside a stack of books, checking the inside cover and writing information on a scroll. Severus slowly walked near her until she saw him. The expression on her face made it clear that he was interfering, "Can I help you with something Severus?"

"Actually Irma, I was wondering if you knew anything on something called Mismatch Mind Rings? I found the only book, but it only has an obscure paragraph about them." He gestured to the small, orange book in his hand.

Her eyes narrowed at the cover as she read the title and author, "Nothing about the rings themselves, but Edgar Scholt – the wizard who crafted the charms in here – is infamous for his paucity."

Severus arched an eyebrow and she continued, "He was apparently a genius in his field, creating many brilliant works, but for whatever reason he refused to write in detail about his creations. So frequently there's only a discrete paragraph or two about his work." She gave a small, wicked smile, "I've heard it's caused turmoil to many wizards who try and use his charms."

The professor nodded, "Thank you."

"Severus," She added as he began to walk away, "I would use extreme caution before using anything in there." But then her eyes caught side of the ring on his finger and she quieted herself.

Severus turned away and stalked out of the library.

#

It was weird. Marley could feel the mucus dripping down her throat. The headache hurt and the sneezing, wheezing and coughing seemed relentless. But that was not what was bothering her the most.

Longingly she looked out the window by her bed, staring at all the muggles, her family and friends, on the street who were preparing their lawn chairs and beer cans and digital cameras to see the solar eclipse. Her gaze traveled upward towards the sky where everyone was pointing and smiling. She wanted to see the sky, the stars, and the sights. But she had trapped herself with this crazy head cold, which weighed her down with every move.

She wanted to fulfill her promise. Marley ached to go sit on Ryan's truck bed and cuddle under the solar eclipse. To be there with him, to share such a great memory; and she blew it.

There was a knock on the door to her room, which was weird because everyone was out on the street. She could see them.

The door opened and Ryan, in his jeans and undone button up shirt, walked in with that goofy white smile. Immediately he laughed a little silent chuckle and joined her on her bed. His knuckle brushed away tears she didn't feel falling. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders he pointed up to the ceiling with a wand – even though he was a muggle. The roof disappeared to reveal the sky she so wished to see. Marley gasped at it; the solar eclipse. All she could see in the sky was the illusion of a moon. It was just this ring of white light gleaming behind the black circumference of the moon. The beauty of it just drew Marley into it.

Her heart was beating faster and excitedly she blinked away some tears and rolled on her side to pull Ryan into her. She wanted to touch him and hug him and kiss him.

But when Marley turned over in the bed, it wasn't her bed at home. No. The dream she was pleasantly enjoying was over. The familiar, yet daunting green and silver wall hangings draped everywhere and the fire that was once lit sat in dead ashes. Bernard grumbled since her hand had flopped onto his face. He got up and re-curled into a ball.

Instantly tears pushed their way down her cheeks. She could feel so much of the dream. His arm on her shoulders and the love in his smile. Marley saw him, she shared that moment with him. These dreams were the worst, while she was dreaming it was so real. She could feel the butterflies, the headache, and his touch. Because it killed her to wake up and not have him there anymore. Ever vivid detail was so real and it was killing her.

Sitting up in her bed, Marley pulled herself back to reality. The recollection of her coming back to her room after breakfast and going back to sleep came to her. At the time it seemed like a good idea to recover the little sleep she got the night before, but she just regretted it.

The witch pulled herself out of bed and got dressed again. It had only been an hour she slept, leaving a lot of open time until lunch. Marley picked up Pride and Prejudice from her trunk and walked out to the commons to read, but everywhere she looked she saw glares from Damien and Katie's friends and fake smiles from Draco's posse. Marley sank into a leather chair next to the fire, but her mind was on the dream and the people she was surrounded by. A frustrated tension exploded inside her as she realized truths about the shattered remains of her new life.

The only person she could actually talk to was Snape, a self-absorbed asshole. Draco is sweet and would listen, but she hadn't the ability to actually tell him. Marley felt so broken and detached. Wasn't Snape assigned to make sure she was okay, wasn't he assigned to make sure she wasn't in trouble? So that he could help her if needed? The witch was in need of a lot of help.

But where the hell was he?

Where the fuck was anyone?

Marley realized with everyone person who smiled through her, how lonely being in a crowd felt. It was like being shrunk and shriveled up. Slowly she began to see the world around her getting bigger and better, but she was stuck in neutral.

Not being able to stand it anymore, the witch went back to her room and pulled out the little box she'd been keeping the heroin and it's accessories in. Putting it in her coat, Marley walked out of the Dungeon and up to the Astronomy tower.

The weather, as per usual for Northern Europe, was shitty. Even though it was ungodly sunny this morning, the sky was now totally black with angry rain clouds. For right now it was just the wind that pulled at Marley's loose curls, but it was going to get much worse; that was for sure.

The young witch leaned over the railing to see the Great Lake; on either side of it was the Dark Forest (their names growing more and more appropriate as Marley's mind grew gloomier.) Trees were shaking and threatening to topple over left and right.

After a short while, however, it wasn't enough. The nature around her wasn't enough to satiate her mood. She need to be medicated, doped up and numb. A deeper part of Marley didn't want to have to do this, but she couldn't resist any longer.

The witch took out the small bag of heroine, spoon, candle and syringe before setting the stage. She used her wand to light the candle, the spoon to melt the heroin and the syringe to suck it in.

When all was done Marley stared into the CCs of off white, translucent liquid; letting herself mentally beg for relief. The suffering, the hurting, while she wanted it all to stop, she didn't want to forget the pain. Marley wanted to remember. As far as Marley was concerned, she deserved it for all she had done in the past. She put her kit back into the box, in her pocket before injecting it in with one quick shot.

#

From his seat at the faculty table, Severus was growing increasingly furious by the second. Lunch had started 15 minutes ago, but still the seat next to Mr. Malfoy remained vacant. He took another sip of his drink before deciding he needed to do something about this.

He composed himself in his seat, making his back form perfect posture and taking a deep breath, he stealthily put himself in Draco's mind – for perhaps he knew where she was.

Draco was currently thinking about Quidditch and how he aspired to perform at the next game. This wouldn't suite Severus' needs so he expertly diverted Draco's thoughts to those of Marley. The professor allowed Draco's mind to do the wondering, since Severus wasn't certain where to direct his mind.

Severus began to see images of a party. Through Draco's eyes he saw Marley. She was in a sexy little leopard print dress that showed a lot of leg and was taut about her curves. Ms. Anderson wobbled over to Draco. She had a faltering smile on her face. Her eyes were huge and uncertain.

"Where did you go?" Draco asked as she fell into his arms, "I came out for air and you were gone."

Her face grew sad and dark. Draco nodded and held onto her. She seemed to settle comfortably into his arms and Severus could tell Draco thought she was crying. Protectively, the blond wizard looked around the room and spotted the Weasley twins coming out of their back room and coming towards the bar for a drink. When they spotted Ms. Anderson they laughed and smiled to each other.

To Draco, George said, "Tell her I hope she had a good time tonight, we did."

Severus pulled out of Draco's head. The party didn't bother him, even though Severus enjoyed busting students for doing bad things, but he had better things to do on his weekend nights. What did bother him was the memory. What did the Weasley twins want with Marley?

The Professor's mind went to George Weasley. Again he slipped under the radar and adverted his thoughts to the party, just as he had done with Draco. Severus immediately was brought to the image of Marley on her knees in front of the twins, sucking them off. The Potions Master wanted to stop watching, but he couldn't, he needed to know more. So he watched the image of her. The tears that ran down her cheeks, but how dutifully she satiated both of the twins.

At the end George opened his eyes at her and tossed two little bags of white powder at her as well as something else.

Severus pulled out of George and sat absorbed in his thoughts. The twins were selling drugs? For sex? It dawned upon the Head of House, that Marley could be getting high somewhere.

Severus excused himself from the table and started just walking. Where would she have gone to get high? He walked into the Slytherin common room and called out to her in his mind, "Ms. Anderson?" He walked to the stairway, "Where are you?" But he didn't feel her in his mind.

He looked around and his eyes looked out the only tiny window there was to see one of the many towers of the castle. The Potions Master remembered a time where he found two students smoking in the Astronomy tower. "She wouldn't be so stupid as to get high there." Severus said to himself, but he was already stalking at a swift pace towards the tower, he had to get there before anyone else found her.

He got to the base of the steps when he was hit with a wave of stillness. His mind felt as if it was propelled from running to motionless and he had to grab a wall to balance himself. Slowly he battled the mental sedation and began to ascend the steps. The higher he got the more there was to fight off. About halfway up the stairway, Severus began to see an image. It was hazy at first, but then it became clearer. It was a still beach. Déjà vu hit him as he remembered his dream from a while ago. The sand was tan and serene as the huge moon hovered overhead.

Severus got to the top of the steps and had to stop and breathe. The image in his mind was fogging over what he was seeing with his eyes. The stars speckled the dark sky in a way that he had never seen before. His charcoal eyes were then drawn to the waves as they crashed on shore. So strong and powerful, yet they gracefully hit the shore. The waterline rushed up to him, but it collided against a body. The beautiful woman was no longer sitting, staring into the ocean, but rather she was on the ground. Her body was on the line of the shore, the white dress soaked in water, making it practically translucent. The dark curly hair was in a mess and blocking his view again of her face. When a wave rushed up to her, she didn't flinch or pull away, she just lay still. What Severus realized as the tide was coming in was that she must be drowning in the water and he had to help her.

Severus took a step forward, but the fog of the dream shifted and he briefly saw the top of the Astronomy Tower in front of him. Again his purpose was brought to light and he pushed down the beach. Another step and he could clearly see the floor of the tower, no longer using the rail as a guide he walked the circumference until the Head of House found Marley laying on the ground. A few inches from her hand was an empty syringe.

A hand went through his hair as he thought what to do. On the ground beneath them, he heard students talking and Severus knew he had to move her. As he bent down to pick her up, a memory struck him. It was George's memory and Draco's memory. It was of tears running down her cheeks. The face Ms. Anderson was making in the memories didn't seem to be ones of deceit and genuine trouble making, nor did her actions seem to be self-satisfying. Rather she seemed trapped and helpless.

The appropriate thing would be to take her to the Infirmary and wait for the Headmaster to come back and expel her, but in this moment, with his student limp in his arms, that didn't feel right. Even in her unconscious state her face looked depressed.

Severus acted again without thinking twice, because he knew he'd change his mind again if he didn't. A disillusionment spell was cast over the two of them and the Potions Master carried his student down the stairs. Past the hallway of students coming back from lunch, past the set of moving staircases that would take Ms. Anderson to Madam Pomfrey, but down the stairs to the Dungeons. He opened the door to his private chambers and brought Marley inside.

#

Her head hurt, no, it throbbed, at the very thought of having to open her eyes. Yet, as she slowly opened them, she realized she was in an unfamiliar place. It was a sitting room with a leather couch, which she was lying on, and massive fireplace and walls adorned with bookshelves, a large liquor cabinet and a few doors that led to places unknown. But what was most shocking to find was the armchair next to her that seated Professor Snape.

The Head of House glared at her, but said nothing. The witch herself had no idea what to say.

There was a long uncomfortable silence as Marley thought about all that might have potentially happened; loathing that this was the second time in a row that she had woken up not having a clue how she got where she was.

There were so many topics that could be brought up, the memories he discovered, her getting high, how much trouble she was in, but Severus chose the easy way out. Partially because it was the easy way out, but mostly because he had done something very inappropriate bringing her back here, it was probably even against the rules, "I did some research," he enunciated. Marley sat up and focused on every word he said, "the Headmaster had been out all day yesterday-"

"Yesterday?" Marley dared to ask.

Severus paused in annoyance, "Yes. Yesterday. Today is Monday. It's about 7 in the morning."

Marley scrunched her eyebrows in thought, "Don't we have to be at classes, or breakfast?"

"Lucky you decided to get stoned out of your mind the eve before a huge snow storm. Apparently, what was originally thought to be a thunderstorm turned to snow. Being the first snow of the year, Professor Dumbledore called a snow day." All his words were dry and cold.

The witch dared not to say another word.

"As I was saying…the Headmaster was out and I did research. The rings won't come off until 'the dividing factor is eliminated'. I believe that to mean that they won't come off until you learn to speak again." Severus paused, expecting a comment from Marley, but when none was offered he continued, "So as punishment you have to spend the day here with me so I can experiment and come up with a remedy."

Thoughts were pressed up against his head from Marley. She didn't think any of them, but he could feel that she was hesitant because of yesterday. There was clear fear for what her punishment would be. Severus chose not to reassure her that he wasn't going to be seeking any sort of retaliation, because he enjoyed having finally struck some terror into her.

"Come." Severus got up from the chair and led her through one of the doors she had seen earlier. Inside was a laboratory. There were neatly labeled bottles, tables of beakers and apparatuses, "There." He pointed to a stool that was next to a table.

She sat down and watched as he grabbed tweezers, a syringe and some glass capsules.

"I'm going to get some hair, saliva and blood." Severus warned just before he took the tweezers and ripped out a bunch of hair.

"Ow!" She gasped, grabbing her head. The headache that was already brewing in her mind got exponentially worse. The only good part about it was looking up to see her Professor wince too. Clearly her hangover and pain was affecting him.

He then reached for the syringe and Marley became nervous again.

When her turned back to her, he saw her scared face, "Oh you can't possibly tell me needles scare you?"

Marley's head fell and she didn't resist at all when he pulled her arm out and folded up her sleeve. This view gave him full perspective of the fresh needle wound from last night and the ones that had already partially healed. His eyebrows furrowed, but he persisted. The needle tip pushed into her arm and Marley held back a tear, not from the pain, but from the shame and misery she felt inside. Though no sign of crying was seen on her face, Severus felt the heat behind his eyes through the rings.

When he was done, he took his samples and moved to a different table, leaving the witch to sit in silence. It was awkward, to say the least, sitting in Professor Snape's personal laboratory. All Marley could think about was what he saw and what he did. Part of her was ashamed that she did it – she lowered herself to heroin again. When Marley closed her eyes, the disappointed eyes of her parents glowered at her. Not like it mattered anymore.

The shocking part of it all was that Snape came looking for her. In the middle of the day he sought her out, only to find her in the astronomy tower limp and hazy-eyed. She had gotten herself into a lot of trouble and deserved the fullest extent of whatever cruel punishment he could cook up, but he didn't. He didn't take her to Madame Pomfrey to drink some horrible potion or to the Headmaster to be expelled. Instead he took her here and let her come to on her own.

She was grateful, but also afraid of what this meant for their relationship. The witch was now quite aware that he could use this against her to do what ever he pleased. Would that be worse than being expelled?

Marley didn't want Severus to catch her thinking such ideas and come off as weak – in place of that she focused on trying to separate their minds. If today didn't work out in separating their thoughts, maybe some practice would give them some peace. It was difficult, mostly because he wasn't participating so really she couldn't tell if her efforts were effective or not.

In her mind she tried to suppress her thoughts. Mentally, she envisioned them in a box and by closing the box she was separating his thoughts from hers. Then once all her thoughts were in the box, she could use the rest of her mind to think about middle ground topics – things she didn't care if he knew or not.

After about an hour of this, Severus stopped his fiddling with vials and shimmering metallic brew and turned to her, "Miss Anderson, I require more hair and saliva." His voice droned.

Marley nodded.

Then he commenced with the plucking, the witch was certain he was taking far more hairs than necessary. Pluck – wince, pluck – wince, pluck – wince, "I'd like to walk away with hair when this is done!" She thought in anger before she could stop herself. The rings weren't necessary for Marley to understand the satisfaction he got from causing her pain, especially since he seemed to be able to resist the rings more than before. To distract her self she went back to packing away memories.

"You will find more success in blocking my mind from yours instead of the other way around." The potions master suggested, finally offering her a breadcrumb after listening to her try for an hour. Really it was for his own sake, he in no way wanted to be nice to her.

Marley took a wary look at him, lulling over what he said.

He swabbed her mouth. Severus could tell his student had no idea how to use this information due to the look of confusion and curiosity that was pulled across her face.

He sighed and put his samples aside. Severus faced her and stared directly into her eyes, "It's called Occlumency – blocking your thoughts from someone who can read them by practicing Legilimency…or because they have one of these damn rings.

"While Occlumency is a defensive measure, the only way to use it is offensively." She nodded deftly. Again he sighed, "I will attempt to penetrate your mind and you need to push me out."

With that Marley felt him moving in her brain – it was odd, but highly invasive and the witch understood right then that she _really_ didn't like this idea.

Behind her eyes Marley saw her dancing with Draco at the beginning of the year party. It was worse than being there. She could see his hands running up her sides and the smile on her face. The betrayal of happiness and even just seeing herself happy after the summer - it sickened her.

"Stop!" She yelled mentally and Severus retracted.

"You need to try." His words were cold and analytical. It pissed her off.

Gritting her teeth, "I was."

"Really?" Was his sardonic response, Severus was purposely baiting her. He set this trap for Potter too. The emotion they needed to get was the key to initially practicing Occlumency.

Once again, he pushed himself into her memories. He sifted carefully through her thoughts, not looking for anything specifically since this was a tutorial not a mission.

But in the midst of her mind he saw it. It was only a glimpse, but he was certain they were one in the same.

It was a brief image of an audience. The dark room and a light shining overhead what the Potions Master assumed to be Ms. Anderson. He pushed further and could hear the strong piano notes floating in the background.

Severus recognized the scene instantly as the one from his dream, but why did he have a dream from Ms. Anderson's head?

He felt her agitation, but now he was curious and deflected her attempts by pushing further. The compulsion to find more itched as he sifted once more, but with purpose this time.

"Stop it!" her voice shrieked, but he kept watching. Then he saw it, the beach. Except from her perspective. The water came up and crashed against her legs, but in the ocean there wasn't water. Instead it was waves of images. People, smiling, people talking, random actions and events. At the forefront was a strong young man. He had brown hair and broad shoulders; there was a huge smile on his lips before he faded into the rip tide.

The vision he watched shook as Marley was getting the grips of Occlumency.

"Get out!" Fury drenched her words.

The beach erupted and evaporated as the witch, both mentally and physically, pushed him out. Across the room Severus flew.

"What the hell was that? A trick? Pretend to be nice so you can attack me?" She stood up and stared straight into his eyes and took a step towards him – like a lioness on the hunt. Except tears soaked her cheeks, but only for a millisecond did those tears mean a thing. Pure, unadulterated loathing radiated off her.

"You couldn't get your fix on bullying kids during class so now you have to use your psychic mind magic to really spit in their wounds?"

Marley took another predatory step, now as she thought her words, her lips moved in unison. To Severus who could hear and see her, it was as if she was truly yelling at him.

"Tell me – Severus – does it really get you off to watch your students writhe under your harsh stare and cower from your words? You specifically play all these mind games with me," Another step, "That day – during detention – I noticed, I noticed you staring at my ass. Tell me do you do that frequently?"

She stopped and glared at him, "You make me sick."

Severus stood their fuming. He listened to her words and it just infuriated him all the more. She didn't know a damn thing about what she was talking about.

Well except about the leering at her, but the embarrassment that she caught him, snow balled with his anger to form a very dark feeling in his gut.

"Oh _I _make _you_ sick? You're one to talk. It's been how long since you've last shot up? Had your last pitiful fix?" He sneered.

Marley's gut sank. That – thing – she did was something she was utterly ashamed of, but at the time she needed it. The witch needed to escape herself, to escape the world if but for only a little while. What the hell did he know?

Severus continued, "You may see me as being horrid, but at least what I do doesn't involve me dropping to my knees." He eluded to the last payment Marley made.

That was cold and Severus knew it. The witch in front of him was shaking. Tension filled the room, both preparing for the next move.

Marley didn't know how he knew, but that didn't matter anymore "Bastard!" She mentally screamed followed by a swift hook shot to his cheek.

This came as a bit of a surprise to Severus, since he was only preparing himself for a verbal response and not a physical one, but just as quickly as she punched he deflected her by shoving her to the side.

Outside of the room where dark cumulonimbus hovered all morning, lightning struck followed by a loud clash of thunder.

The witch was not deterred for very long as the burning rage within her sought a way out, so she used her full body weight to punch Severus, except that he was already prepared for this; he grabbed her wrist and moved it down so that she was only able to body-check him into the wall.

Even though Severus was angry, he wasn't willing to fight back. Each time she tried to kick him – which was sometimes successful – or punch him, he would move her in a way that would change the impact of her attacks to the wall or a chair.

His student came at him once more and in a similar attempt to defend himself, a bookcase was knocked over, causing the two hanging wall candles to break and go out and his robe to tear.

Only for a moment was Marley shocked by the loud crashing of the bookcase, before she was back on the offense. However, Severus was sick of this game and threw her on a table pinning her down with his arms and legs, "Stop!"

Marley's chest heaved as she caught her breath, "You twat munching fuck face from hell!" She screamed in his face, but he didn't move.

The witch squirmed and tried to hit him with her head, but her attempt was weak and cause Severus to lay his full body weight on her. His face was inches from her and his charcoal eyes could only stare into her infuriated blue eyes.

Outside of the window sleet began to fall with the thunder and lightning. There was a crash as lightning struck the ground again. The dark room flickered as the bright light from electric storm outside was the only thing left lighting the room.

Suddenly the feeling changed in the room. There was plenty of anger in the air, but something else had come up. As their chests heaved and the light flashed across the room, their motives had become lost and only one had become important.

No one was sure who started it, but they kissed. It was rough and it was harsh, but their lips collided. An air of desperation hung between them as Severus forced his tongue into Marley's mouth and his grip on her wrists tightened. Marley's hips shifted as she began to grind against him.

The Head of House let go of Marley after a minute to rip off her shirt, revealing a black bra, and she utilized the moment he took to look at her, to grab each side of his robe and push it off.

Severus pulled Marley up against him where they kissed again. Her legs wrapped around his torso as she ground into him once more. His kisses moved across her cheek to her pale neck. The skin was so soft and pale his lips couldn't pull away. Instead he kissed and licked and brushed his lips against her neck until there was definitely a hickey. Marley's hands unbuttoned his black shirt and rid him of his belt. The witch wanted to have done more, but her thoughts went fuzzy as she began to moan from Severus' kisses.

Finally Severus broke away and pulled at Marley's jeans. Together they slide them off so she was just in her panties anymore. Without the denim interference, it was easy to feel the Potions Master's arousal between her legs. Before she laid back down on the table she pushed against his shirt so that it would fall off, because his chest had become so fascinating and she had to see more and kiss it.

Just as she leaned in, however, something caught her eye. Severus knew the moment she hesitated that something was wrong. Just like that, the feeling and desire evaporated in the air as he watched Marley's eyes identify the Dark Mark stained black on his pale skin.

Her brilliant flame blue eyes looked up and pierced his own as disgust again appeared across her beautiful face, "You're a monster."

A/N: Hey guys, I hope you liked the chapter! The second half of this chapter was inspired by the song Situations by Escape the Fate and thus became the name of the chapter. I didn't write that song nor do I have the rights to it. Please, please, please review! I really would like to know how you guys feel about the chapter. Any kind of feedback is always appreciated! Thanks for all your support :]


	16. White Blank Page

The Right of Wrong Doings

Chapter 15

No one said anything after her statement. The duo couldn't even begin to move. Marley pulled herself away, her legs curled up to her chest. All she could seem to think about what was what he was.

"You're a despicable disgrace for a human being." The witch spat. Pulling herself together she got off the table and pulled her pants on, "I knew you were without compassion, but I didn't fathom that it ran this deep."

Severus didn't move. He watched her get dressed and move around the room, but had no idea what to say. This moment was what he had been sheltering himself from for all these years. Covert operations, a double life style, keeping a distance between anyone who could get hurt or blow his cover, but he had failed. "She could ruin everything."

Marley slipped her sweater over her head before stopping to glare at him. She couldn't bring herself to say anything, because there's nothing to be said. As far as the witch was concerned, everything he stood for was so ridiculous that there were too many warrants to state.

"Ms. Anderson." Severus calmly said, with a hint of danger mixed in, as she began to leave the room.

Marley's blood was pounding through her veins and she acted on the first thought that came to her. In a split moment, she spun around, grabbed a glass beaker and hurtled it at his head.

Quickly reacting, Severus dodged the launched object and reached down to the table for his wand.

"Don't!" She yelled holding out her hand, but when he kept moving she focused on his wand and, "Repello!"

The wand shot across the room and the Professor halted. Curiosity struck him, but not enough to eradicate the threat he saw in his student.

Marley took a few steps towards him with her hand still pointed out, "Give me a reason."

Fear pounded at his heart and his mouth became dry, "What kind of reason?"

Before Snape could react she pointed at the table "Bombarda!" and it shattered in a small explosion, "What kind of reason? Don't be coy; you know exactly what I mean. Clearly if you think that your kind is so superior, you must have a million reasons why I should spare you."

His charcoal eyes peered into hers. Trying to see into her thoughts. It became evident to him that she didn't have any at this moment. All that was steering her was blind rage.

"You had big talk before, how much better you were than I? What changed?"

There was a long pause, "You're not going to kill me."

A second passed as she took in what he said, could she kill him? "Oh really? I bet you wouldn't hesitate a second to kill my moth-" Her sentence broke off as she realized that she had already done that.

In Severus's head he heard the first conscious thought she had had since the duel, "I killed my mother."

"Too late then I see? Apparently I would since you had enough gall to do it yourself." Snape spat back, not knowing any facts behind his statement, but it was enough to stun her into silence, "What are you going to do if you do kill me? Unleash the wrath of the Dark Lord upon you and all the family you haven't killed yet?"

Tears flooded her blue eyes and she couldn't see, despite how hard she tried. Her lungs fluxed and she gasped for air as she started sobbing. "You- you…" Words failed her as she sought for any sort of retaliation for his brutal words.

Severus took the opportunity to grab his wand, but even when he turned it on her, she didn't move. Those flaming eyes looked up through an ocean of tears and saw that she was in his hands, but no longer did the witch care. There was nothing to fight for.

"Do it! This is what you want right? Me dead. Me in pain. Go! Nothing's stopping you!" Snot ran under her nose and she hung her head.

The dynamics had changed so much in the last hour, Severus wasn't certain of what he wanted. Though she had blown his cover, he also hadn't considered what just happened. The almost sex, the passion that was just converted from anger to something feigning love and back again.

The Head of House edged his way to his student and when he was right next to her he silently he cast "Stupefy." The stunned body of his student collapsed in his arms and he carried her back to the couch. Staring at her tiny body, with the moist streaks where fresh tears were recently absorbed in the skin and the knowledge of the pin pricks in her arm brought new light to the witch. This new information about her mother didn't make sense to the persona he had already figured his charge for. Until today, Severus didn't see more than a verbal threat from Ms. Anderson, but now he couldn't be sure.

Thoughts began to order themselves in his mind and he decided the next course of action was to call the Headmaster. Buttoning his shirt, he walked into his bedroom and addressed the annoying portrait next to the fireplace, "I need you to get Professor Dumbledore. It is of the up most importance."

The middle-aged man in the portrait craned his neck to look through the archway at living area.

"I didn't say assess, I said retrieve." The tone Snape used was volatile and the oil man vanished into the side of the frame.

Quickly Severus redressed and made sure the witch was too. No more than five minutes later, Dumbledore opened his door, "What is it Severus?"

"Close the door."

The Headmaster walked in and went to the living area when he saw Ms. Anderson.

"Severus? What happened? Is she alright?" Though he sounded panicked, there was a twinkle in his eyes.

"She knows."

Albus looked sternly at his employee, "What does she know?"

"Ms. Anderson saw my mark." Severus said unwavering, prepared for whatever was to happen.

A small silent pause preceded the Headmaster's full reaction, "How could you let that happen!"

"It wasn't purposeful."

Dumbledore had more anger to express, but everything that came to his mouth wasn't quite what he wanted to say. A minute of silent thinking passed as the old wizard looked over the student, "We can't obliviate her mind; the connection could endanger the integrity of your own." Albus began to walk around the room, hoping the change of perspective would offer better ideas than the one at the forefront of his mind. Passing the open laboratory, he stopped to see the mess that once was an orderly place, "What happened?"

Severus swallowed, "I learned that Ms. Anderson has developed wand-less and word-less magic."

It infuriated Snape to see that the Headmaster was actually pleased by this. Instead of being focused on the desperate matter at hand, he was pondering aloud her increased magical development, "This must be a result of her other senses replacing her voice. It is rather rare for such a young witch to have that ability." Albus again glanced of Ms. Anderson, "Tell me Severus, how advanced is she?"

The Head of House had to engage all of his control not to throw a fit and respond calmly to the question, "Well, she blew up the table in one shot. But Headmaster, what are we going to do about what she knows?"

"Employ her."

Blink, "What?"

Albus turned to face the Potions Master directly, "Her skills and her talents make her a valuable person to have in the Order."

On the couch Marley's eyes fluttered as the spell began to wear away.

This time Severus allowed his mouth to open slightly at this, "You can't be serious. These kids aren't for you to pick and chose from; first Potter with Granger and Weasley, but now Ms. Anderson? Are you harvesting these kids for your personal agenda? It's bad enough you want to slaughter Harry, but this is too much."

"May I remind you that this is your fault Severus?" Albus' tone turned from inspired to sharp, "What else is there to do? We can't get rid of her being a threat any other way. The only way to diffuse the situation is to bring her into it. Involve her."

"And what if she turns? What if she doesn't want to agree to be in the Order? She could tell the world that I'm a double agent. The plans we have had for years would explode like that table." Severus countered, "Marley has her own…issues right now and I don't think the Order should have to carry that on its shoulders."

Albus waited a moment, letting on that he was taking in the Slytherin's argument, "This is a war Severus. We knew from the start that this wasn't going to be easy. The best decisions made wouldn't always be 100% good." He sighed, "She will need guidance," that is what Professor Dumbledore stressed, guidance, "If we are going to win, she needs to fight. If this world is to be saved, she must know."

The Head of House shook his head and walked over to the couch, "You demand too much." He confessed, "Of everyone. Today may have been partially my fault, but I would have never the opportunity to screw up hadn't you put me here. You put me – and Marley – under a charm that there is no real information on. I looked up the rings. The damn creator didn't write down anything on them. What is known about them is only what people experience." Severus turned and made direct eye contact with his boss, "I was directly warned not to use any of his charms."

Albus seemed almost unfazed; "This isn't up to you anymore."

Walking over to the couch the Headmaster pulled out his wand and shook her shoulder to pull her out of the spell. She fluttered her eye and took a deep breath as if she was waking up and immediately jumped to angry. The witch stood and glared at Snape.

"You stunned me! I wasn't fighting anymore!"

"You threatening to kill me is not enough cause?"

"I thought I didn't have the balls to kill you?"

Snape couldn't bring himself to comment on her mother given that Dumbledore was right there. At the moment he loathed his student, but that's not something he was about to do to her.

"There are more pressing matters at hand." Dumbledore stated, clearly annoyed from deducing there was an argument going on that he couldn't par take in. Despite his irritated tone, the twinkle was back in his eye. Sitting down himself he motioned for Marley to sit next to him.

Marley glared just to glare at Snape, but then sat down and turned her gaze to Albus. Severus didn't move from his spot behind the armchair, but he felt too close anyway.

"Severus has told me that you discovered his mark." Dumbledore was calm and collected, putting on a much more open and honest persona than he had five minutes ago.

"Did you tell him how?" Marley shot at Snape, not even bothering to look at him. The Head of House wanted to retort, but he knew this was not the place.

Albus continued, "What you did not learn is that there is extenuating circumstances around that particular mark. Years ago, Severus came to me and confessed that he had made a deeply regrettable mistake joining the Dark Lord. He was very young when they recruited him and since then he told me that he had matured and changed." Dumbledore paused, "I know you are quite familiar with the dramatics of change."

The witch despised that statement, but didn't let her physical appearance let that on.

"At that time I brought him into the Order of the Phoenix. It's an organization that's been combating He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named since he first rose to power. Severus is valuable because the Dark Lord doesn't know that he's in the Order. Given the circumstances he's been able to hand the Order the advantage in this war." The Headmaster analyzed Ms. Anderson's face as best he could to see if this was affecting her at all, "Though it seems he may be a Death Eater, Severus is far from what he portrays."

There was a silence.

Severus scoffed mentally, "He's waiting for you to tell me to say if you still wish to kill me."

"You told him about that?" Marley was appalled.

"The destroyed lab gave it away." Severus sneered.

There was a long pause as she considered what was said, "Why should I believe you? Why should I believe Dumbledore?"

The Potions Master considered this, "Blind faith."

His charge's fingers tangled themselves in her hair as she stood to pace. Minutes passed again before she stopped moving with a sigh, "Tell him that his secret is safe."

This picked again at the Professor's interest in her. So easily she was giving in with just a small explanation, "Ms. Anderson says that she understands and has no desire to share this with anyone."

Just as Severus looked back, he saw her head droop down again, "Who do I have to tell anyway?"

Albus stood up and walked over to Marley, "Severus also told me about your developed skills. Wandless and wordless magic is a difficult ability to master…"

The witch thought back to what she had overheard earlier. She reflected back to what Snape had said about Golden Trio, "Stop." Marley thought at Snape. "Tell him that if he wants me to be in the Order I won't. Not that I don't believe in what they're supporting, but I'll fight on my own terms and not on his command. Besides he should know that everything I touch turns to shit."

"Headmaster – Ms. Anderson feels that she wouldn't well placed in the Order." Snape recited in befitting terms.

Staring at her Headmaster, she was infuriated.

#

Marley walked rather deftly back to the common room. She was angry, but also tired of being angry and tired from her hangover and tired of fighting. For now her mind was too filled and numbed by recent events that she didn't even care that she was doing the walk of shame.

Only being deterred by obtaining new clothes and toiletries, Marley went right to the showers. Though the small, warm space frequently offered her the ability to meditate about happenings in her life, the witch felt no desire to do so. Instead she forced her mind to be quiet. The witch sat down in the shower and observed the slow running water trickling down her leg. This is what she truly coveted. Marley could never be sick of this form of nothing. So often it felt necessary to ponder new life questions, but mental debating became such a tiresome and futile act, as none of her ultimate decisions ever happened the way she planned.

After an uncertain amount of time, the witch lifted her pruned body off of the floor and got redressed. Gel tamed her hair, make-up disguised her face to that of a normal boered teenager and leggings matched with a long sleeved sweater dress to slowly bring Marley back to reality. The responsibility of undone homework weighed on her. Surprisingly it was only 7 p.m. It felt like all the events as of late took days to occur, not hours.

With none of those events having an impact on the load of work she had due the next day, Marley brought her work out to the table in the common area. Three hours of focused working later left Marley with only a potions essay (that she debated even doing) left. But it was just as she finished her transfiguration assignment that Draco sat down across from her. She looked up to find many people had gone to bed and now one was left in the commons, but the duo.

"So studious," Draco admired, "I like that."

She smiled and shrugged.

"It sounds creepy, but I've been sitting on the couch partially reading, partially watching you, and partially offended that you haven't noticed me." Draco laughed under his breath.

Marley smiled and put down her quill as to pay complete attention to her companion.

"But that's okay, you can still be my date to the dance." Draco's comment hung in the air. Even though it wasn't a question, he was essentially asking her to the upcoming fall formal.

In all honesty Marley had forgotten about the dance. Girls had been talking about it for a wihle, buti it went right through Marley's ears. Therefore Draco asking her had come as a bit of a shock, but quickly the witch smiled and mouthed "okay."

"Excellent." Then Draco looked about to see if anyone was in ear shot, but of course there wasn't, "First order of business as dates to the dance: we must have a bonding experience. I wasn't sure how willing you'd be hopping on a broom with me, so I thought I might engage in something more up your ally." With that he procured a small baggy of weed.

Marley hesitated at the sight of it. Is this what she was known for now? Being a druggie?

"If you're not too tired and if you're done, we could go to my room and…" He shook the baggy a little.

Merely ten minutes later Draco's room reeked of pot, but was shielded by a charm to the outside world.

It was here Marley quickly learned Draco was a light weight as he sprawled himself across the floor and mindlessly babbled about school and his aspirations. The witch however took a couple of hits and then switched to Marlboros. Initially Marley's high thoughts rested on Draco. Truthfully Marley didn't know how Draco's life was going to turn out. Some of Marley's peers were stereotypical. It was easy to tell who would be rich and famous, who would grow to be fat and ugly (if Karma was going to properly kick in), who would be great house wives and who was probably going to come out of the closet eventually. Yet Draco's future still seemed unwritten. Marley genuinely hoped he'd become successful and happy, but was she leading him down a bad path? Surely breaking his morals about drugs was not a good thing.

Yet that thought seemed to carelessly take flight from the forefront of her mind and it flittered, as it inevitably would, to the events that recently occurred. Even her drug-induced calm did not ease the confusion and frustrations that were stirred to the surface.

On one side of the coin, the obvious side, it was a whole shit storm of bad. How could Dumbledore and Snape expect things to be normal now that she knew? Not that she was going to do anything about it, (honestly what could she do with that information that was beneficial and wouldn't get her killed?) but interactions with her head of house would now be even more exacerbated. He was evil, no one good could ever be a Death Eater. This is troubling since Dumbledore trusted him. Not that she was particularly invested in Dumbledore's judgment, especially since he tried to use her for her new abilities, but how could he trust a Death Eater. A "former" vassal of Voldemort still once became a part of his discipleship for a reason. In Marley's opinion that reason is damn important if he's going to be a part of the growing and shaping of young witches and wizards, let alone to be a part of Dumbledore's Order. Clearly he was once a double crosser, what is stopping him from doing it again?

Just then Draco gave out an inebriated epiphany. Looking at him Marley's thoughts meshed and she was reminded of Draco describing Snape – only 99% badass. If she was to subscribe to Draco's mentality, what does the other 1% entail she wondered. Given Draco's story of his childhood, could it be kind? Thoughtful? Neither seemed appropriate.

Following that train of thought she was brought back to the coin that was Snape. As like a pillow, he was vastly different on the other side. Marley could no longer say that Snape was unattractive. In fact he had many handsome features. Additionally he had that bad boy, bad ass aura that she was just recently finding herself attracted to.

Marley took another drag of her cigarette and began the mental abasement that had become routine as of late. She was becoming such a slut. Flirting with Draco was bad enough, but this was outright blatant disregard for Ryan. How long had it been? 2 ½ maybe 3 months? Whore.

The itch for heroin rose in her throat, which put another interesting thought in Marley's mind. Why hadn't Severus reported her, or at least taken her to the infirmary? Protecting her was not something that enemies did. "Although," Marley thought to herself, "groping at each other was not something enemies did either…"

Could there be more than 1% good in him? But he was a Death Eater, nice wasn't really in the profile.

A thought dawned on Marley when she glanced over at Draco. Memories of Draco being kind to her came back to her. His babbling had stopped and he was just watching her deftly from his place on the floor. She crawled over to him and nestled under his arm. The sleeve of his shirt was unbuttoned, but rested at his wrist. Slowly she played with his fingers, then palm, and then lightly brushed her finger nails across his skin. Higher and higher, until she saw the tongue of the Dark Mark. It surprised her. Draco was so wonderful to her, grant it he wanted in her knickers, but he wasn't a douche bag about it. He did his best to court her and she wasn't even a pure blood.

Grabbing the pack of cigarettes again, Marley set herself up with another menthol Marlboro. She lit it and sucked in. The unanswered questions clogged in her mind and chest as she held the smoke in for an uncomfortably long amount of time. Then she just let it all out in one continuous stream of smoggy gray.

After long consideration she could only come to the simple conclusion that perhaps there was hope for Severus Snape after all…

#

Where he wanted to be was in his chambers or at his bar, drinking. The past three days had been notably stressful and took a toll on his mind and body. Yet Severus stood in the library of Malfoy Manor waiting to see the Dark Lord without falter in his eyes, step or mind.

A house elf offered him some Gin, but Severus knew better and instead examined the portrait of Lucius' parents, sneering and snickering.

At last the door opened and the Dark Lord warmly greeted Severus in a chilling manner that only Voldemort could, "I am anxious to hear about what you have discovered at Hogwarts. Is what Rembrandt correct in his theory?"

"Yes and no. There have been others who have successfully achieved this power; however all have fallen to victim to its drawback." He explained how the sun would burn him from the inside out if he were to walk in it. But he baited his statement with "Though if you could successfully fulfill all the requirements than you'd probably be more powerful than any of your opponents."

Voldemort was not stupid and Severus did not pretend that he would just walk into this without hesitation. Minutes of silence and Voldemort's occasional prying into Snape's mind for verification and additional information passed before he spoke.

"Severus, as you know your opinion is valuable to me. What is it that you think?"

The professor was silent for a moment, "I think every great prize a price. Since you do not frequently venture into the sun, I am inclined to believe this is a sacrifice that is easily managed. Additionally if during the war you must battle in the sun's rays, you'd be powerful enough to block it out somehow."

Again another brutal silence.

"I want to be deliberate this point further, but in the mean time I want you to prepare all the necessary steps and supplies as if I were to carry this out."

The Death Eater nodded.

Voldemort sat down in a large leather arm chair, "Is there any news in the order?"

"As expected they are spinning their wheels until you act again." Snape met the Dark Lord's gaze, "They certainly have no idea that you are considering a different approach."

"That does draw more allure to Rembrandt's idea."

Severus hesitated, but spoke again, "Do not take the risks lightly my lord, they are steep stakes to observe."

Voldemort nodded, "I am aware."

Though he sounded cautious, Severus could all but see the wheels turning in his head. Being so powerful was irresistible.

When Snape was dismissed he hoped he had made the best decision in propelling the Dark Lord towards this new power. War was a large scale game of Russian Roulette and Severus was praying he wouldn't eat the bullet.


	17. Feeling Good

Chapter 16

Feeling Good

The Right of Wrong Doings

A/N: Hey guys, I know it's been a while, I hope you haven't forgotten what happened last chapter. Anyway this chapter is called Feeling Good due to the song by Michael Buble. In my professional opinion I think it's the greatest strip tease song there could be. Anyway, when the time come and trust me you'll know, I recommend tuning in and using it as background music.

The short, but sinewy woman swiftly flew about the house trying to make it suitable for her husband. Magically, dust swirled off tables and out the window, windows began washing themselves, laundry floated off the line and folded itself into piles.

Though anxiety rattled her bones now, her spirits were uplifted from the pleasant afternoon spent with her son; sandwiches and tea in the field, catching frogs by the pollution swilled creek, guessing at the shapes of clouds…too long had they been parted by circumstance. In her mind she rephrased, they had been seeing each other every day, eating meals together, living together, but it was months since they had spent quality time together.

He was what made life livable, made life worth suffering through.

To see his smiling face lifted her feeble heart into her throat and clouded her eyes with tears. Conversely he was what made her eyes dry when all she could do was cry and feel delight when pain and misery was being pounded into her bones.

"Severus, fetch the cauldron and jars and hide them beneath floor boards in the living room."

The small child scampered away, but just as he moved the shriveled, gray wood off the floor, the door 10 feet in front of him banged open. The monster of a human being boomed into the room. Severus cowered behind the couch, hoping beyond all else, that he would not see him or the cauldron.

"Tobias!" All the things that had been cheerily flying about suddenly dropped. A cloud of dust fell and swirled around the room, creating smog around Tobias, "You're home early."

The man's eyes traveled left and right before he fully digested what had happened.

"What have you DONE!" In one swift movement he traversed the living room into the kitchen to where Eileen was. Her eyes grazed Severus precariously attempting to become the couch with the magical contraband and she fled away from him, hoping he could escape.

His little fingers went to work shoving the metal pot and glass jars into the seemingly cavernous abyss beneath the house. He went to close the floor boards, but his eyes became fixated on the extra space. Swifter than he could think, the nimble boy dropped into the hole and pulled the rickety wood over his head. Glimmers of light came through the boards, but otherwise it was pitch black. At first he feared the dark, he feared the creepy and the crawly, and he feared what he could not see.

Thwack!

The fear was gone from his space in that instant. "Stop Tobias!" Eileen shrieked after a few more audible hits.

The comforting arms of the undercarriage of the house wrapped around Severus, tighter and tighter as he heard and felt his mother's pain.

#

It was awkward to say the least. For the next few days nothing happened. Potions went by everyday unceremoniously. Marley didn't act out, provoke a situation or make public displays of what Severus would call "childish behavior". Similarly Severus didn't try to push into her mind, humiliate her or give her any punishment whatsoever. It truly seemed as if they had reached their final stalemate; on the outside at least.

However the numbing awkwardness had passed relatively quickly in Marley. Her mind wandered and wondered continuously. Though her body constantly seemed to be normal in acting out her daily functions, her brain was not.

Marley's mind cycled through the thoughts she had when she got high with Draco. The end of what happened the other day left so many loose ends; it was hard to resist the idea that all of this wasn't over.

The cyclic ponderings still tumble-dried in her head while she and Draco were sitting at lunch one day, when one of Draco's friends walked over with a newspaper, "Didja read the paper today? The game next Thursday may not be such an easy win."

"Shit." Draco sighed as he put his napkin on his plate and accepted the paper, "I put down 100 galleons on that game."

They weren't being specific, but Marley knew there was some pro-Quidditch game coming up and Draco was trying to make a little extra cash for the party after the upcoming dance. Not that Draco was on a budget, but after listening to him rant about everything under the stars, the witch understood that part of Draco hated his father and the other part was desperate for his approval. By making money on his own, Draco was being self-sufficient and thereby somehow worth being proud of, while simultaneously no longer needing his father or his approval.

Unfortunately for Marley, who was on the fence about going to the dance, Draco had become so invested in this party and ball, she could not back out of her agreeing to go. Up until this point, the witch had loved the irregular balls at the school. Something was so wonderful about getting dressed up, dancing until you pass out and interacting with people in a whole different way than usual. She recognized, however, that that was only enjoyable when you had friends to do all those activities with and since the whole ordeal with Katie, her friends had been dissipating at a rate equal to the rate of Katie bolstering her lies.

That train of thought ended and Marley casually looked over at Draco and spotted the headline for today's paper: Seven Dead in Latest Attack. It was then that she knew this ongoing thing between she and Snape wasn't over, because it was at that very moment that she understood the gravity of the situation because two very bad things could result from this recent information.

If Snape was truly bad and she didn't speak out, then every person he killed or damaged in anyway would be on her.

If Snape was truly good and valuable as Dumbledore insists and she did speak out, then all the people that he could have saved, but didn't, would be on her.

Marley was suddenly nervous. She couldn't let her conscience be further stained with blood. Her blue eyes darted up to Snape. His eyes and mind were clearly elsewhere, so she watched and waited for him to turn to her. The witch examined his stoic John Wayne mannerisms and charcoal eyes. Now was not the time to consider his well-constructed form, but she almost couldn't help it. As his head slowly oscillated back to her, she squelched her thoughts and assumed her serious mindset.

He stopped chewing upon seeing her and waited expectantly for her to speak (figuratively of course).

"We need to talk" She thought.

"No." He replied without the slightest bit of hesitation or emotion.

Marley glared at him. "Did you really think that that would be the end of all of this? Dumbledore comes in and puts a band aid over everything that happened and suddenly everything is okay; no questions, no discussions involved?"

Severus put down his fork. "I could only hope."

She sighed and her face softened only slightly. It still looked a mixture of stress, frustration and weariness, but somehow still… "beautiful." He thought. Repulsed instantly by his own adjective, he sat up straight and focused on keeping a blank expression on his face; as if it would prevent his thoughts from going adrift.

"Come on Snape. Dealing with this instead of forcing me to do it my way has got to be the lesser of two evils. You know whatever my way is you'll find it as intolerable as you find me. Buy me a drink and humor weak, needy me."

"Buy you a drink?" He had to ask since it was so outlandish, "I'm not taking you out Ms. Anderson. That's completely unacceptable and inappropriate."

She gave a little huff, "I use that as sort of as a figure of speech for just doing something over drinks. I don't have any intention of being seen anywhere in public with you outside of the normal places." She paused, "Not even then really."

"No. That's absolutely inappropriate and equally undesirable."

"I agree," Marley countered, "in any other average professor-student relationship that would be true, but I like to think that you think of me as special." Marley thought with humorous undertones, but the seriousness of the discussion had only further hardened her intentions.

All of a sudden the duo was interrupted when Draco turned to Marley and in a hushed, but astounded tone, "Wait, are you and Snape doing the thing?"

Marley glanced at Severus, who took this interruption as an excuse to end the conversation, before turning back to her companion and offering a slight nod.

The blond wizard took this in, "What do you guys talk about? Do you do this all the time?" A pause as he thought, "Do you talk about me?

A grin couldn't be stifled as the witch intentionally didn't respond to any of his inquiries.

#

The hour that remained before Ms. Anderson's class with him, was not without her presence in Severus' mind. She had roused some part of his brain into action and no matter what he did she crept back into his mind. It was unsettling to him how she lingered long after she walked out of their rings' range. Especially since this had long since not been the first time.

To appease his own curious mind, Severus came to the conclusion that he could understand how Draco had been susceptible to her ploys. She was like a really good recipe, all the ingredients are individually good, but are greater as a whole. The ingredients being that she was a little above average smart, radiant in her confidence without any of the narcissism, she had mystery about her which was only added by her inability to speak, plus she had moxie. The Potions Master would not consciously think it, but he knew that she was also physically attractive. Not that her aesthetic value alone was anything extraordinary, but rather it was her personality in addition to her looks that made her…captivating.

He knew that it was dangerous to think like this. Not only could she potentially hear him, but so could Voldemort and Dumbledore. Severus knew this information would be extremely deadly if it left his cranium.

#

Later that afternoon, students shuffled into his room as reluctant as usual. He watched with a careful eye to see if any students dared to ditch class. In addition, he searched for Ms. Anderson. Severus told himself that this was not because of anything he may think of her to himself, but rather because she was his responsibility and she needed to be minded after.

The professor stood up to address the class, which in turn became silent, "Today we are going to be making and testing a strength potion. Its title leaves no deception in its effects. We will be testing this by using these rats," Severus flicked his wand causing a crate to be uncovered and a dozen white rats writhing in the limited space, "and testing their ability to withstand these rocks." He gestured to the large flat stones beside the rat cage, "Success passes and failure earns you just that. Go."

Marley sat in her chair and glared at him, "It's not failure to those rats. It's death."

Severus felt no need to look at her, let alone address her.

Fear struck through the witch as she took in his response. Her worries at lunch returned to clench her stomach, "You're going to determine the life or death of these rats based upon the work of a learning student? That's despicable."

For a minute he contemplated how he was going react. Severus would never let a student kill a rat; he has traditionally found a way in the past to humiliate a student whom he thought would fail, out of killing anything. But she didn't know that, "Ms. Anderson. That's life." He thought to her. Then he looked up at her from his desk, "But if you really care that much you should take care not to mess up." He watched her lips purse as her fiery blue eyes glared as cold as ice at him.

Aloud the professor addressed his charge, "Ms. Anderson, unless you would like a week of detentions and an F, I would recommend you get to work."

His student sat there. They locked eyes. She was challenging him on this issue. Severus stood up and walked towards her. The room had gone silent. Most everyone knew by this point that Marley and Severus could communicate non-verbally, causing everyone to be curious as to what was going on. But the Potions Master gave a stern look across the room and his students once again began working.

Once at her table he leaned in so that he didn't have to speak louder than a whisper and then said to her in a hushed, angry tone, "You are not in control. Nothing has changed."

Marley stood up as she spoke, "This isn't about control, this is about consequence and responsibility." She paused and relaxed her lips defiantly, "I'll be damned if I let you hurt anything or anybody again." She turned and began retrieving ingredients and a rat for assignment, not giving Severus a chance to rebuttal.

This of course had not settled anything and both Snape and Marley were extremely agitated. The professor had returned to his spot at his desk and scratched grades into test papers. However his mind was on his charge. Part of him was furious. He hated that he couldn't squelch her constant rebellion and how she would pick all these fights in the classroom. A bit of concern rose in his chest as he considered how the argument had deceptively switched from rats to something much larger.

He felt that he could not leave her unguarded any longer. At least not for the rest of this class, so though he was grading assignments, he was also watching Marley through the eyes of Draco.

At first the Potions Master received a bittersweet joy as Draco frequently caught her shooting daggers at their professor. But then as the class progressed, Severus found himself more or less addicted to watching Marley unbeknownst to her. Being that Draco fancied the witch, he would watch her through a lover boy's eyes; catching the swish of her hips, the casual flip of her hair, the white smile she would courteously flash at the blond wizard.

Severus' mind was diverted from his original task. Draco took to crushing a bone to add to the cauldron, which no longer allowed for Severus to see Marley. But the student's mind's eye wandered back to her, bringing Snape with him.

It was an image of what appeared to probably be Draco's room. Marley was sitting in the image, leaning against a chest of drawers. She had a joint in one hand and after taking a deep hit of it, she snubbed it out and lit up a cigarette. Then she became still, her pale skin making her look like some form of a porcelain doll. Her eyes were focused on nothing in the distance. Severus focused on her eyes as Draco just pictured watching her.

But then she moved from her delicate position to her hands and knees and crawled towards Draco, who didn't move. Her hips swayed and her v-neck sweater dress was revealing. Once she reached Draco, she curled into his chest and Severus could feel the warmth across his chest through Draco's memory.

The image swirled and returned to the classroom, but it was different now. There was just Marley and there were no bubbling cauldrons.

Severus looked up at the classroom to see with his own eyes instead of his mind's eye and there she was. Sitting on her desk, third row from the back, with her legs crossed and hands on the desk. Her shoulders were relaxed and her chest hung between them. She gave him a look that bore no smile, but she had bedroom eyes aimed at him.

Slowly she slipped off her shoes and slid off of the table. The witch delicately sauntered down the aisle. Each step she took accentuated her hips, which his charcoal eyes couldn't resist. Her hands moved up to her hair and pulled it out of its usual bun so that it fell into a sort of morning after look.

As she took the final steps up to his desk Severus spoke, "Ms. Anderson…" He forced his voice to be strong.

With a sly smirk on her face she leaned over the desk and let her loosely buttoned shirt fall forward, just like in Draco's mind. A slender finger pressed against his lips, shushing the wizard. Severus was stunned into silence as her aroma wafted to his nose. The scent was an intoxicating mixture of sweet and familiar. He couldn't help, but to close his eyes briefly and inhale. When he opened his eyes again, she was up from leaning over the table and tread sexily over to the solitary window as she unbuttoned her blouse. He watched as she stopped undoing her blouse to close the shade, causing the only light to then be the candle on his table.

There were only four buttons left and she just ripped them apart. The white cotton was shrugged from her shoulders and fell limply to the ground; exposing Marley's delicately arched back glowing against the small source of light.

The hairs on his arm rose as his stomach churned with anxious anticipation. The witch pivoted so that she was now facing her professor. His charcoal eyes examined every inch of her from her dark painted toe nails to her black lace bra and remaining school skirt.

Now she made a bee line towards him and Severus impulsively relaxed into his seat and awaited her. Once there she straddled the aroused wizard, taking his large calloused hands into her small, soft ones and guiding them to her bare back. The witch's warm, steady and pleasantly minty breath made his skin tingle.

His eyes traveled down her breasts, down her stomach to her waist line where his hands followed suit behind her. His middle finger caught on the zipper to her skirt and he began to pull as she made a light, but sultry giggle.

"Yes!" Seamus Finnegan shouted breaking the fantasy, "I didn't kill it!"

The room was again full of students, Marley was silently laughing with Mr. Malfoy, her expression seemingly unphased. Severus was even facing his desk and his quill was in his hand, poised half way through a nasty comment.

It couldn't be ignored that he was more than flustered, his erect pants allowing no room for debate. With a swish of his hair and a gulp of saliva, Severus attempted to focus himself again as he looked up with his own eyes at the classroom. This was relatively unsuccessful, for how could he _not_ think about that?

He scanned the room, being as subtle as he could as he brought his eyes to Marley. Not that he wanted to look her over for more, but rather to make sure she didn't know.

To his dismay she was waiting for his eyes to catch her as she smirked, very pleased with herself, "How does it feel to be trapped, like a rat, behind that desk?"

#

As the sun began to set, his eagle owl darted into his open window and rested upon Draco's desk. The blond wizard sat up on his bed and examined the speckled burnt umbre bird that perpetually glared at him with disdain.

The bird eyed the wizard with his large jonquil irises before dropping a white letter on the desk. Feeling kind, Draco patted the bird a little before picking up the note. He knew before he even opened the note that it was from his father and a knot churned within Draco.

Finally he worked up the nerve and unfolded the parchment.

Draco,

In two days your mother is picking you up from school. I have informed Dumbledore that your presence is required at a family get together.

We are being called. Be prepared.

Your Father,

Lucius Malfoy

Because Draco had been in school, he was not able to be continuously informed as to what the Dark Lord had been doing other than the conjecture in the newspapers. Though, he knew enough to know that they were full of their scared shit.

There were two significant sentences in this message and they were all that was needed to know that Voldemort was making a major step towards taking over.

Before his nerves could get to him, Draco sat down and scratched out a meager "See you soon" to send back to his father.

This was all happening too fast, whatever Dumbledore was doing wasn't working. Whatever forces that remained to save humanity were failing him. Never had he wanted to be a part of this. Voldemort's plans started with the deconstruction of unity in the magical world and ended with the complete demolition of all muggles. Draco did not know how he felt about what to do, but he knew this was not the answer and he didn't want to slaughter anyone who wasn't like him. Maybe that's because it seems that everyone who is "like him", can't make him happy.

As he sat at his desk and watched the bird flap away, all he wanted was Marley to be with him and fill that emptiness in him. It was crazy that he had fallen for her like this, but being around her – even in her muted state – gave him some stability. If he knew nothing, he knew that he wanted her. He knew he would lay down all he had for her.

#

Late that night Severus returned to his champers, surprised to find Marley sitting outside of his door.

The witch was slightly inebriated and didn't see him coming up to her until the torch light cast upon his pale face.

"I've been waiting for you."

"Ms. Anderson, I hope you know my chambers are not a place for you to be gluttonous with banned substances. I will turn you in." his voice growled "It would actually be my pleasure."

A retort about what she thought might actually be his pleasure popped into her head, and he felt it, but she squelched it and moved on, "I've been waiting for you because I need to fucking figure you out." She stood up to face him.

"No."

"That's just too bad. This is the consequence of your actions." Marley raised her eyebrows. He felt the anger roll into his chest as the fight from earlier resurfaced.

Severus pushed past her and went into his chambers, closing the door behind him.

Yet her thoughts penetrated the oak door. As he poured himself some whiskey, she continued speaking, "Be honest with yourself. I need to talk to someone and do you really want it to be with anyone other than you? Not that it could be anyway, but you made damn sure of that already."

Marley thought that by lowering herself he would pity her and possibly let her in. Or respond. Or something.

Severus hesitated when she said that, but he shrugged off the comment. Boohoo. With a flick of his wand he set the fire roaring, kicked off his shoes and removed his cloak before resting in his worn leather chair.

The witch thunked her head against the door as the extended silence made it clear that this tactic didn't work.

"That's not fair!" she yelled in her head as she kicked the door, "Merlin! You're such an arse! I know you are an adult with years of practice dealing with shit, but I'm sort of new to this game and have no idea what to do when you get into a fight with your professor that spontaneously turns into sex before finding out that he is part of a league that wants to kill you and your family. Not to mention that I can't talk it out or ask for guidance or even verbally cry out about any of my problems: sexual, educational, dream or otherwise, except said professor."

Frustrated he got up and marched to the door and ripped it open, "Game? This isn't a game! And no one is rehearsed at it. At least no one I've met. I have no experience with the likes of you. I don't frequently – ever - experience sexual encounters with any of my students." He paused as his thoughts jumbled and organized, "Additionally I don't know how to protect you. It's one thing to protect you from other evils, but how do I protect you from yourself? People who know as much as you do are either fighting or dead. You are fortunate to discover the way you did. Had it been anyone else – had it been the Dark Lord who found out you knew, you'd be in any number of shit fests. He is the epitome of evil. There are young women found and used every day. They get cursed and tortured and abused. Anyone who isn't of pure blood is passed between Death Eaters until their fragile and broken bodies fail and they die. All would agree death didn't come soon enough." His speech became a double edged sword of anger gusting out and an effort to terrify her into obedience, "But you, who was fortunate enough to make it out unscathed, keeps coming back to play ding, dong, ditch at Death's door. Now I ask you, what am I to do about your ignorant stupidity?"

"Yes, what do you do when a young woman shows up at your door, at the door of a Death Eater?" Marley took a step closer so she was, but a foot away "Does she leave bruised and broken?"

Severus stood up straight, no suitable response coming to him.

"Every girl, person or creature that leaves you, I'm now liable for too." Marley pushed past him and walked over to his open window and opened it to take a breath of cool air. She heard the sound of the door shut behind her.

"What do you want?" His voice was no longer as angry as it was tired.

She pivoted and leaned against the window sill. He made her blood boil, but looking at him in the glow of the fire was almost intoxicating; her eyes unable to look away from the part of his chest that was shown from the first two undone buttons in his black shirt. "What kind of man are you?" she asked, "I mean the question literally, how is it you are a Death Eater one day and Dumbledore's lackey the next? What changed? What are you really?"

The potion's master went to a cupboard which contained his collection of liquors, whiskeys and a few bottles of wine, "Dumbledore told you, I matured. I was young, then I matured." He carefully selected from his inventory because he wanted something strong if he was going to do this, but he couldn't be too inebriated that he couldn't spare with her, both verbally and physically.

He looked up and she was walking towards him, her face calm and attentive, reminding him of class earlier that day. She came closer and closer, lifting her hand to take the glass out of his fingers and taking a sip.

His jaw clenched in response, but poured himself another glass, deciding to save this battle for later.

"Bullshit," She curled up on the couch next to his worn down leather chair, "You don't grow out of hating a whole race of people so much you want to annihilate them." She challenged.

"Whether or not you choose to accept the answer is your problem."

Marley did her best at scoffing, "You really expect me to believe that?"

The professor leered at her, "I'm not doing this with you. You don't get to interrogate me about personal aspects about my life. You'd be getting leverage on me when I get nothing to counter you with."

The crackling of the fire was the only noise while the witch considered this. "You already have two counts of leverage on me." when Severus didn't waver, she continued softly, "The heroin…my mother…" She breathed in, "it's only fair that you share too."

Severus hadn't forgotten about her mother, but until now he hadn't considered it leverage, "When I joined sides with him it had nothing to do with my opinion of blood worthy witches and wizards, but rather everything to do with what was happening in my life at the time."

Marley hadn't thought of that, "So you have no desire to kill me?"

"I wouldn't go that far, but it's not because of your lineage." Severus replied.

She watched him for any tells that he was lying, but shortly after she began she knew that was impossible. "What made you switch back?"

"You are out of fair leverage Ms. Anderson, two for two now." Severus was testing her. Particularly to see how much she was willing to sacrifice for this. But also he was intrigued by her and wanted to add more pieces to the jigsaw puzzle that was her.

The witch consulted her glass, watching the amber liquid slosh back and forth, "I'm responsible for the deaths of three people."

The plot with this witch was thickening. Severus was surprised to hear about her mother, but two other people as well. The professor found himself becoming more intrigued by her and his desire to learn more was growing ever more.

"Well now you know!" She exclaimed, "Three and two."

"I'm not sure my answer is worthy of your sacrifice." Severus responded, "It wasn't anything ceremonious. There's no story. I just realized that what I was doing was not what I believed in."

"There's no story? Really? You want me to leave you alone based upon something that isn't worth telling about?" Marley dug her heels in on this issue.

"Three for three."

"Bullshit, you gave me a quarter of a response." Marley thought this counting thing was stupid, but if it got results, so be it.

"You gave me quarter of something to go off of. Who are these two other people? How did you do it? Did you like the taste of blood on your fingers?" Severus's voice became cruel. What she wanted to him unearth was painful and he wasn't going to let it out so easily.

Finally the witch was silent. Her lashes cast downward and a curl slid from its place behind her ear to in front of her face.

Severus mirrored her pain within him. This sinister word play filled an empty spot within him. Experience allowed him to understand that this void was filled only temporarily, but for now, it felt good to be complete.

Something gentle knocked once against the door. His organs froze as he listened for more. Marley watched Severus go on guard, "Bedroom." He thought to her and without a noise she made herself scarce.

His mind was set back to a message he received. Voldemort's change was to happen tomorrow night, all hell could break lose now. His wand dropped down his sleeve into his hand as he approached the door. In a moment he yanked the oak door open only to find a fat, brown cat at his feet.

Who could it be morphed as a cat? His wand was poised to react at the cat's movement.

"Don't!" Marley screeched as she flew out of his bedroom, "Don't kill him, he's just a cat, I swear." In a swift motion she cradled the pudgy feline and shielded him from harm, "It's my cat."

Marley stood outside of his door, waiting to see his next move.

Severus glared at her and closed the door.


End file.
